=HELLEBORE.=--The Christmas Rose (_Helleborus niger_) has also been

called Black Hellebore, from the colour of its roots, and Melampodium,

in honour of Melampus, a learned physician who flourished at Pylos, in

Peloponnesus, 1530 years before the birth of Christ. Melampus travelled

into Egypt, then the seat of science, in order to study the healing

art, and there he became acquainted with the cathartic qualities of

the Hellebore, by noticing the effect it had upon some goats which

had fed upon the herb. He afterwards cured with Hellebore the mental

derangement of the daughters of Prœtus, King of Argos--ancient writers

affirm by causing the princesses to bathe in a cold fountain after

taking the drug; but according to Pliny, by prescribing the milk

of goats which had eaten this vegetable. From this circumstance,

Hellebore became celebrated as a medicine, and was speedily regarded

with superstitious reverence by the ignorant populace. Thus, Black

Hellebore was used to purify houses, and to hallow dwellings, and the

ancients entertained the belief that by strewing or perfuming their

apartments with this plant, they drove away evil spirits. This ceremony

was performed with great devotion, and accompanied with the singing

of solemn hymns. In similar manner, they blessed their cattle with

Hellebore, to keep them free from the spells of the wicked: for these

purposes it was dug up with certain attendant mystic rites; the devotee

first drawing a circle round the plant with a sword, and then, turning

to the east, offering a prayer to Apollo and Æsculapius, for leave to

dig up the root. The flight of the eagle was anxiously watched during

the performance of these rites, for if the bird approached the spot,

it was considered so ominous as to predict the certain death of the

persons who took up the plant, in the course of the year. In digging

up the roots of certain species of Hellebore, it was thought necessary

to eat Garlic previously, to counteract the poisonous effluvia of

the plant. Yet the root was eventually dried and pounded to dust, in

which state it was taken in the manner of snuff.----R. Turner, writing

in 1663, says that at that time Hellebore was thought to cure such

as seemed to be possessed with the Devil, and therefore was by some

called _Fuga Dæmonum_.----The ancient Gauls are said to have invariably

rubbed the points of their arrows with Hellebore, believing that it

rendered all the game killed with them more tender.----Hellebore in

ancient times was considered a certain antidote against madness. In

his ‘Anatomy of Melancholy,’ Burton introduces the Hellebore among the

emblematical figures of his frontispiece, with the following lines:--

“Borage and Hellebore fill two scenes,

Sovereign plants to purge the veins

Of melancholy, and cheer the heart

Of those black fumes which make it smart;

To clear the brain of misty fogs,

Which dull our senses, and soul clogs;

The best medicine that e’er God made

For this malady, if well assaid.”

Hellebore formerly grew in great abundance on the Island of Anticyra,

in the Gulf of Corinth: hence _Naviga ad Anticyram_ was a common

proverb applied to hypochondriacal persons.----Pausanias tells us

that when the Cirrhæans besieged Athens, Solon recommended that

Hellebore should be thrown in the river Plistus: this was done, and the

Cirrhæans, from drinking the water, were so powerfully attacked with

dysentery, that they were forced to abandon the siege.----The Hellebore

has long been considered a plant of evil omen, growing in dark and

lonely places. Thus Campbell says of it:--

“By the witches’ tower,

Where Hellebore and Hemlock seem to weave

Round its dark vaults a melancholy bower

For spirits of the dead at night’s enchanted hour.”

The plant, with certain accompanying exorcisms, was reputed to be

efficacious in cases of deafness caused by witchcraft. In Tuscany,

the peasantry divine the harvest from the appearance of the

Hellebore-plant. If it has four tufts, it will be good; if three,

mediocre; if two, bad.----Astrologers say that Hellebore is a herb of

Saturn.

=HELMET-FLOWER.=--The _Scutellaria_, or Skull-cap flower, is generally

known by the name of the Helmet-flower, the blossoms being shaped

similar to those of the Snap-Dragon. It is used in curing the tertian

ague.

=HEMLOCK.=--The common Hemlock (_Conium maculatum_) is described

by Dioscorides as a very evil, dangerous, hurtful, and poisonous

herb, “insomuch that whosoever taketh of it into his body dieth

remediless, except the party drank some wine before the venom hath

taken the heart.” It is the _Coneion_ of the ancients: that deadly

poison distilled from the juices of the Hemlock, that was drunk by

Socrates, Theramenes, and Phocion--the fatal drug given to him whom

the Areopagus had condemned to death--the unfailing potion gulped down

by ancient philosophers, who were weary of their lives, and dreaded

the infirmities of old age. Resolved on their fate, these men crowned

themselves with garlands, and with a smile upon their lips tossed off

the fatal _Coneion_--dying respected by their countrymen for their

fortitude and heroism.----The Hemlock is one of the deadly poisons

that kills by its cold quality. Hence Pliny tells us that serpents fly

from its leaves, because they also chill to the death: on this account

probably it has been called _Herba benedicta_, or Herb Bennett.----The

Eleusinian priests, who were required to remain chaste all their lives,

were wont to rub themselves with Hemlock.----In Russia, the Hemlock

under the name of _Beh_, is looked upon as a Satanic herb; and in

Germany, it is regarded as a funereal plant, and as a representative of

the vegetation of the infernal regions. In England, it was a favourite

plant of the witches, gathered by them for use in their potions and

hell-broths: it is still considered a plant of ill-omen, growing among

ruins and in waste places, and being unsavoury and offensive to the

senses.

“By the witches’ tower,

Where Hellebore and Hemlock seem to weave

Round its dark vaults a melancholy bower

For spirits of the dead at night’s enchanted hour.”

The Hebrew prophet Hosea says of this sinister plant: “Judgment

springeth up as Hemlock in the furrows of the field.”----At the end

of Summer the dead stalks of the Hemlock rattle in the wind, and are

called by country folk Kecksies, an old English word applied to the dry

hollow stalks of umbelliferous plants. Formerly the Hemlock was called

Kex.----Astrologers assign the plant to Saturn.

=HEMP.=--Herodotus speaks of Hemp (_Cannabis sativa_) as a novelty in

his time, lately introduced into Thrace from Scythia.----A curious

prophecy relating to English kings and queens, and the prosperity of

England, has been preserved by Lord Bacon, who heard of it when Queen

Elizabeth was “in the flower of her age”:--

“When Hempe is spun,

England’s done.”

“Whereby it was generally conceived that, after the princes had

reigned, which had the principal letters of that word Hempe (which

were Henry, Edward, Mary, Philip, and Elizabeth), England should come

to utter confusion, which is verified in the change of the name; for

that the king’s style is now no more of England, but of Britain.”----In

some parts of the country, on Midsummer Eve, but in Derbyshire on St.

Valentine’s Eve, as the clock strikes twelve, young women desirous

of knowing their future husbands go into a churchyard, and run round

the church, scattering Hemp-seed, and repeating the while, without

stopping, these lines:--

“I sow Hemp-seed: Hemp-seed I sow:

He that loves me the best

Come after me and mow.”

The sowing of Hemp-seed is performed by maidens, at midnight, on

Midsummer Eve in Cornwall, on St. Martin’s night in Norfolk, and on All

Hallow Eve in Scotland; the incantation being completed by the recital

of the following or similar lines:--

“Hemp-seed I sow thee,

Hemp-seed grow thee:

And he who will my true-love be

Come after me and show thee.”

The figure of the girl’s lover, it is then supposed, will appear and

run after her. In the poem of ‘The Cottage Girl,’ the rite of sowing

Hemp-seed is thus described:--

“To issue from beneath the thatch,

With trembling hand she lifts the latch,

And steps, as creaks the feeble door,

With cautious feet the threshold o’er;

Lest, stumbling on the horseshoe dim,

Dire spells unsinew ev’ry limb.

“Lo! shudd’ring at the solemn deed,

She scatters round the magic seed,

And _thrice repeats_, ‘The seed I sow,

My true-love’s scythe the crop shall mow.’

Straight, as her frame fresh horrors freeze,

Her true love with his scythe she sees.

“And next, she seeks the Yew-tree shade,

Where he who died for love is laid;

There binds, upon the verdant sod

By many a moonlight fairy trod,

The Cowslip and the Lily-wreath

She wove her Hawthorn hedge beneath;

And whisp’ring, ‘Ah! may Colin prove

As constant as thou wast to love!’

Kisses, with pale lip full of dread,

The turf that hides his clay-cold head!”

Perhaps the origin of this custom of Hemp-sowing is the fact that from

Hemp is made cord, which is used to bind, attach, or secure an object.

The Sicilians, indeed, employ Hemp as a charm to secure the affection

of those they love. De Gubernatis tells us that, on Friday (the day

consecrated to the remembrance of our Lord’s Passion), they take a

Hempen thread, and twenty-five needlefuls of coloured silk; and at

midnight they plait this, saying:

“_Chistu è cánnava di Christu,

Servi pi attaccari a chistu._”

Forthwith they go to the church with the plait in their hands, and

enter at the moment of the Consecration: then they tie three knots in

the plait, previously adding a little of the hair of the loved one;

after which they invoke all evil spirits to entice the person beloved

towards the person who craves his or her love.----In Piedmont, there

is a belief that Hemp spun on the last day of Carnival will bring bad

luck. On that day, in some districts, the following ceremony is gone

through to divine what sort of Hemp crop may be expected:--A bonfire

is lighted, and the direction of the flames is attentively watched: if

the flames mount straight upwards, the crop will be good; but if they

incline either way, it will be bad.----In the Côtes-du-Nord, France,

there is a belief that Hemp enrages those who have been bitten by dogs.

When fowls eat Hemp-seed, they cease to lay, and commence to sit. It is

customary to leave the finest sprig of Hemp, that the bird St. Martin

may be able to rest on it.----The Egyptians prepare an intoxicating

substance from Hemp, called _Hashîsh_. This they roll into balls the

size of a Chesnut, and after having swallowed a few of these, they

experience ecstatic visions.----The Arabians concoct a preparation of

Hemp, which produces the most varied hallucinations, so that those who

are intoxicated by it imagine that they are flying, or that they are

changed into a statue, that their head is cut off, that their limbs

stretch out to immense lengths, or that they can see, even through

stone walls, “the colour of the thoughts of others” and the words of

their neighbours.----In the Chinese _Liao chai chih ye_ (A.D. 60-70),

it is recorded that two friends wandering among the mountains culling

simples, find at a fairy bridge two lovely maidens guarding it; at

their invitation, the two friends cross this “azure bridge” and are

regaled with Huma (Hemp--the Chinese _Hashîsh_); forthwith they fall

deeply in love with their hostesses, and spend with them in the Jasper

City what appears to them a few blissful days: at length, becoming

home-sick, they return, to find that seven generations have passed,

and that they have become centenarians.----To dream of Hemp betokens

ill-luck.----Astrologers assign Hemp to the rule of Saturn.

=HENBANE.=--There are two species of Henbane (_Hyoscyamus_), the black

and the white: the black or common Henbane grows on waste land by

roadsides, and bears pale, woolly, clammy leaves, with venomous-looking

cream-coloured flowers, and has a fœtid smell. Pliny calls this black

Henbane a plant of ill omen, employed in funeral repasts, and scattered

on tombs. The ancients thought that sterility was the result of eating

this sinister plant, and that babes at the breast were seized with

convulsions if the mother had partaken of it.----Henbane was called

_Insana_, and was believed to render anyone eating it stupid and

drowsy: it was also known as _Alterculum_, because those that had

partaken of it became light-headed and quarrelsome.----According to

Plutarch, the dead were crowned with chaplets of Henbane, and their

tombs decorated with the baneful plant, which, for some unknown reason,

was also employed to form the chaplets of victors at the Olympic games.

Hercules is sometimes represented with a crown of Henbane. Priests

were forbidden to eat Henbane, but the horses of Juno fed on it; and

to this day, on the Continent, Henbane is prescribed for certain

equine disorders.----Albertus Magnus calls Henbane the sixth herb of

Jupiter, and recommends it especially for liver complaints.----In

Sanscrit, Henbane is called _Aj’amoda_, or Goat’s Joy. Both sheep and

goats will eat the plant sparingly, but swine are said really to like

it, and in England it is well known as Hog’s Bean.----In Piedmont,

there is a tradition that if a hare be sprinkled with Henbane juice,

all the hares in the neighbourhood will run away. They also have

a saying, when a mad dog dies, that he has tasted Henbane.----In

Germany, there is a superstitious belief that Henbane will attract

rain.----The English name of Henbane was given to the plant on account

of the baneful effects of its seed upon poultry, for, according to

Matthiolus, birds that have eaten the seeds perish soon after, as do

fishes also.----Anodyne necklaces, made of pieces of this root, are

sometimes worn by infants to facilitate teething, and the leaves are

smoked by country people to allay toothache. Gerarde says, “The root

boiled with vinegre, and the same holden hot in the mouth, easeth the

pain of the teeth. The seed is used by mountebank tooth-drawers, which

run about the country, to cause worms to come forth of the teeth, by

burning it in a chafing-dish of coles, the party holding his mouth over

the fume thereof; but some crafty companions, to gain money, convey

small lute-strings into the water, persuading the patient that those

small creepers came out of his mouth or other parts which he intended

to cure.”----The plant was one of those sought for by witches, and used

in their potions.

“And I ha’ been plucking plants among

Hemlock, Henbane, Adder’s-tongue.”--_Ben Jonson._

Astrologers place Henbane under the rule of Saturn.

=HENNA.=--In the Canticles, the royal poet says: “My beloved is unto

me as a cluster of Camphire in the vineyards of Engedi.” The Camphire

mentioned here, and in other parts of Scripture, is the same shrub

which the Arabs call Henna (_Lawsonia inermis_), the leaves of which

are still used by women in the East to impart a ruddy tint to the

palms of their hands and the soles of their feet. Throughout Egypt,

India, Persia, Arabia, and Greece, it is held in universal estimation

for its beauty and sweet perfume. Mohammed pronounced it the chief of

the sweet-scented flowers of this world and of the next. In Egypt,

the flowers are sold in the street, the vendor calling out as he

proceeds--“O, odours of Paradise! O flowers of the Henna!” The Egyptian

women obtain from the powdered leaves a paste, with which they stain

their fingers and feet an orange colour that will last for several

weeks. This they esteem an ornament. Gerarde describes the Henna, or

Henne-bush, as a kind of Privet, which in his day grew in Syria near

the city Ascalon, and he says “Bellonius writeth that not onely the

haire, but also the nether parts of man’s body, and nailes likewise,

are colored and died herewith, which is counted an ornament among the

Turks.”----The Hindus call the Henna-flower _Mindi_, and the females,

like the Egyptians, employ it to colour their nails, fingers, and the

soles of their feet an orange hue. The miraculous stone, which they

call _Gauri_, or _Parvati_, received its name and its ruddy colour

from being touched by the foot of the divine wife of Siva, which had

previously been stained with the juice of _Mindi_. Henna-flowers

are of a pale yellow tint, and emit a sweet perfume; they are made

into garlands by the Hindus, and offered to travellers in official

ceremonies; thus we read that at the reception of M. Rousselet by the

King of Gwalior, the ceremony concluded by the guests being decked with

garlands of Henna-flowers, placed around their necks and hands. An

extract prepared from these flowers is employed in religious ceremonies.

=HERB BENNETT.=--The Avens, Herb Bennett, or _Herba Benedicta_ (_Geum

urbanum_), occurs as an architectural decoration towards the end of the

thirteenth century, and is found associated with old church paintings.

The Holy Trinity and the five wounds of our Lord are thought to be

symbolised in its trefoiled leaf and the five golden petals of its

blossom. The flower has several rural names, such as Star of the Earth,

Goldy-flower, and Blessed Herb (a translation of the Latin _Herba

Benedicta_, of which Herb Bennett is simply a corruption). This last

name was given to it from an ancient belief that when the root is in

the house, the Devil is powerless and flies from it; wherefore it was

considered blessed above all herbs. Herb Bennett was also reported

to be hostile to all venomous beasts: if grown in a garden, no such

creature would approach within scent of it, and the root carried

about the person of any man ensured his immunity from the attacks of

monsters or reptiles.----Formerly, the appellation _Herba Benedicta_,

was applied not only to the Avens, but also to the Hemlock and the

Valerian. Dr. Prior remarks that “in point of fact the proper name of

these plants was not _Herba Benedicta_, but _Sti. Benedicti herba_, St.

Benedict’s herb (German, _Sanct Benedicten-kraut_), and was assigned to

such as were supposed to be antidotes, in allusion to a legend of St.

Benedict, which represents that, upon his blessing a cup of poisoned

wine which a monk had given to destroy him, the glass was shivered to

pieces.”----By astrologers, Avens is deemed a herb of Jupiter.

=HERB CARPENTER.=--The _Prunella vulgaris_, from its efficacy in

healing wounds inflicted by chisels, sickles, and other sharp

instruments used by working-men, was formerly known as Herb Carpenter,

Sickle-wood, and Hook-weed, as well as by the name it is still called

by--Self-heal.----It is a herb of Venus.

=HERB CHRISTOPHER.=--The name of Herb Christopher is applied by Gerarde

to a species of Aconite, and to the Osmund Fern. Parkinson gives the

Baneberry the same title.

=HERB GERARD.=--Aishweed, Gout-wort, or Herb Gerard (_Ægopodium

Podagraria_), was named after St. Gerard, who used to be invoked

against the gout, a disease for which this plant was highly esteemed as

a remedy.

HERB IMPIOUS.--See Everlasting Flower.

=HERB MARGARET.=--The Daisy (_Bellis perennis_) was also formerly

called _Herba Margarita_, Herb Margaret, or Marguerite (French).

The flower is erroneously supposed to have been named after the

virtuous St. Margaret of Antioch, “Maid Margarete, that was so meeke

and milde”--who was invoked because in her martyrdom she prayed for

lying-in women; whereas it derives its name from St. Margaret of

Cortona. (See MARGUERITE).

HERB OF GRACE.--See Rue.

=HERB OF THE CROSS.=--In Brittany, the Vervain (_Verbena officinalis_)

is called the Herb of the Cross, and is supposed to be endowed with

remarkable healing qualities. J. White (1624) writes thus of it:--

“Hallow’d be thou, Vervain, as thou growest in the ground,

For on the Mount of Calvary thou first was found.

Thou healedst our Saviour Jesus Christ,

And staunchedst His bleeding wound.

In the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,

I take thee from the ground.”

In the Flax-fields of Flanders, a plant is found called the

_Roodselken_, the crimson spots on the leaves of which betoken the

Divine blood which trickled on it from the Cross, and the stain of

which neither snow nor rain has ever been able to wash off.----In

Palestine, the red Anemone is called “Christ’s Blood-drops,” from

the belief that the flower grew on Mount Calvary. In Cheshire, the

_Orchis maculata_, which is there called Gethsemane, is supposed to

have sprung up at the foot of the Cross. The Milk-wort, Gang-flower,

or Rogation-flower (_Polygala vulgaris_) is called the Cross-flower

from its blooming in Passion week. The _Galium cruciatum_ is called

Cross-wort because its leaves are placed in the form of a cross.

The early Italian painters, in their paintings of the Crucifixion,

introduced the Wood-Sorrel (_Oxalis acetosella_), probably from its

triple leaf symbolising the Trinity. The four-leaved Clover is an

emblem of the Cross. All cruciform flowers are of good and happy

augury, having been marked with the sign of the Cross.

=HERB PARIS.=--The narcotic plant called One-berry, Herb True-love,

or Herb Paris (_Paris quadrifolia_), has obtained the latter name

from the Latin _Herba paris_ (Herb of a pair--of a betrothed couple),

in allusion to the four broad leaves which proceed from the top of

its stalk, and form a cross; being, as Gerarde says, “directly set

one against another in manner of a Burgundian Crosse or True-love

knot: for which cause among the antients it hath been called Herbe

True-love.” Herb Paris bears flowers of a palish green--a colour

always suggestive of lurking poison. Every part of the herb contains

a poisonous principle, but the leaves and berries were formerly used

to expel poisons, especially Aconite, as well as the plague and other

pestilential diseases. Matthiolus says that “the chymical oil of the

black berries is effectual for all diseases of the eyes, so that it is

called _Anima oculorum_.”----The herb is under the dominion of Venus.

=HERB PETER.=--The Cowslip (_Primula veris_), the _Schlüsselblume_ of

the Germans, has obtained the name of Herb Peter from its resemblance

to the badge of St. Peter--a bunch of keys.

=HERB ROBERT.=--The species of Crane’s Bill called Herb Robert

(_Geranium Robertianum_) is thought to have derived its name from

the fact that it was employed in Germany to cure a disease known as

_Ruprechts-Plage_, from Robert, Duke of Normandy: hence its old Dutch

names of _Ruprechts-kraut_ and _Robrechts-kraut_. The Church, however,

connects Herb Robert with St. Robert, Abbot of Molesme, in the eleventh

century.----In olden times, the plant was used as a vulnerary; in

Wales, it is believed to be a remedy for gout; and in most country

places, it is considered efficacious as an insecticide.----Herb Robert

is under the rule of Venus.

=HERB ST. BARBARA.=--Herb St. Barbara, or St. Barbara’s Cress

(_Barbarea vulgaris_), was so called from its growing and being eaten

in the Winter, about the time of St. Barbara’s Day--December 4th, old

style.

HERB TRINITY.--See Pansy.

=HERB TWOPENCE.=--The Money-wort, or Creeping Loosestrife (_Lysimachia

nummularia_), obtained the name of Two-penny Grass, or Herb Twopence,

from its circular leaves, which are arranged in pairs, resembling money

in their form. The plant was formerly also called _Serpentaria_, from

a belief that if serpents were hurt or wounded, they healed themselves

with this herb. It was highly esteemed as a vulnerary.----Astrologers

assign the herb to Venus.

=HERB WILLIAM.=--Bishop’s Weed, or Ameos (_Ammi majus_), is said by

Gerarde to be called by some Bull-wort (Pool-wort) and Herb William,

but he does not give any reason for the name. The plant, according

to the old herbalist, was noted for its efficacy, when applied with

honey, in removing “blacke and blewe spots which come of stripes.” Its

seed was good “to bee drunken in wine against the biting of all manner

of venomous beasts, and hath power against all manner of poyson and

pestilent fevers, or the plague.”----It is under the dominion of Venus.

=HOLLY.=--The Holly or Holme (_Ilex Aquifolium_) derives its name from

the Anglo-Saxon _Holegn_, whilst another ancient designation, Hulver,

or as Chaucer wrote it, Hulfeere, has been taken from the old Norse

_Hulfr_. From the use made of its branches in decorating churches at

Christmas time, the monks, by an easy corruption, bestowed on the Holly

the designation of the Holy-tree.----The disciples of Zoroaster, or

Fire Worshippers, believe that the Holly-tree casts no shadow, and

both in Persia and India they employ an infusion of its leaves for

several purposes connected with their religious observances. They

also sprinkle the face of a newly-born child with water impregnated

with Holly-bark.---Pliny states that if the Holly, or Hulver-tree,

be planted about a house, it will keep away all malign spells and

enchantments, and defend the house from lightning. He also, among other

marvels, relates that the flowers of the Holly would freeze water, and

would repel poison, and that if a staff of its wood were thrown to any

animal, even if it did not touch him, it would so influence the animal

as to cause him to lie down beside it.----The custom of decorating

houses and churches with Holly at Christmas is probably derived from

the Romans, who were wont to send boughs to their friends during the

festival of the Saturnalia, which occurred about the same period, and

the Oaks being then bare of leaves, the priests obliged the people to

bring in boughs of Holly and Evergreens. There is little doubt that

the early Roman Christians, disregarding the church’s interdiction,

introduced the heathen practice of decorating their houses with Holly,

and in course of time connected it with their own faith.----There is

an old English superstition that elves and fairies join the social

gatherings at Christmas, and this led to branches being hung up in hall

and bower in order that the fays might “hang in each leaf, and cling

on every bough during that sacred time when spirits have no power to

harm.”----This Evergreen “Christmas” should be taken down on Candlemas

Eve. Herrick says:--

“Down with the Holly and Ivy all

Wherewith ye deck the Christmas hall;

So that the superstitious find

No one least branch there left behind;

For look how many leaves there be

Neglected there--maids ’tend to me--

So many goblins ye shall see.”

De Gubernatis tells us, that in certain parts of France, in

Switzerland, at Bologna, and in other Continental countries, there is

an old custom extant of cutting branches of Holly on Christmas Eve,

and hanging them in houses and stables, in the hope of driving away

evil spirits and witchcraft. As the Holly-leaf is prickly, it repulses

and drives away enemies. An English mediæval ballad illustrates this

custom:--

“Her commys Holly, that is so gent,

To please all men is his intent. Alleluia!

But lord and lady of this hall,

Who so ever ageynst Holly call. Alleluia!

Who so ever ageynst Holly do crye,

In a lepe shall he hang full hie. Alleluia!

Who so ever ageynst Holly do syng,

He maye wepe and handys wryng. Alleluia!”

In Germany, Holly is _Christdorn_--the Thorn woven into the crown

placed on our Saviour’s head at the Crucifixion.----Witches are reputed

to detest Holly: in its name they see but another form of the word

“holy,” and its thorny foliage and blood-red berries are suggestive

of the most Christian associations.----In Northumberland, Holly is

employed in a form of divination. There the prickly variety is called

He-Holly, and the smooth, She-Holly. It is the leaves of the latter

only that are deemed proper for divining purposes. These smooth leaves

must be plucked late on a Friday, by persons careful to preserve an

unbroken silence from the time they go out to the dawn of the following

morn. The leaves must be collected in a three-cornered handkerchief,

and on being brought home, nine of them must be selected, tied with

nine knots into the handkerchief, and placed beneath the pillow. Then,

sleep being obtained, dreams worthy of all credit will attend this

rite. In another form of divination, a maiden places three pails of

water on her bedroom floor, then pins to her night-dress, opposite her

heart, three leaves of green Holly, and so retires to rest. She will

be aroused from her first sleep by three terrible yells, followed by

three horse-laughs, after which the form of her future husband will

appear. If he is deeply attached to her, he will change the position of

the water pails; if not, he will glide from the room without touching

them. This spell is only effectual when performed on All Hallowe’en,

Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve, and Beltane, or Midsummer Eve.----Holly

is under the dominion of Saturn.

=HOLY PLANTS.=--In England, the _Angelica sylvestris_, for its

“angel-like properties,” was, says Parkinson, called Holy Ghost; the

Vervain is the Holy Herb, from its use on ancient altars; the Holly

was called by the monks of old Holy-tree; and the Hollyhock, Holy Hoke

or Hock (an old name for Mallow); the _Anastatica Hierochuntina_ is

the Holy Rose of Jericho; the Lucern (_Medicago sativa_) is Holy Hay;

the _Holcus odoratus_ is the Northern Holy Grass; the _Hierochloe

borealis_, the German Holy Grass; the Hemp Agrimony (_Eupatorium

cannabinum_) is Holy Rope, so called from its Hemp-like leaves

betokening the rope with which the Saviour was bound; the seed of

Wormwood is Holy Seed (_Semen sanctum_); and _Carduus benedictus_ is

the Holy Thistle.

=HOMA.=--Homa, or Haoma, is the sacred Vine of the Zoroastrians, the

first of the trees planted by Ormuzd in the fountain of life, and from

which one of their religious ceremonials takes its name. This consists

in the extraction of the juice of the Homa-plant by the priest during

the recital of prayers; the formal presentation of the liquid extracted

to the sacrificial fire; the consumption of a small portion of it by

one of the officiating priests; and the division of the remainder among

the worshippers.----The Iranians describe two kinds of Haoma or Homa,

the white and the yellow. The former is a fabulous plant, the latter,

which is used in religious rites, and is extolled for its yellow

colour, grows on mountains, and was known to Plutarch.----It has been

attempted to identify the Zoroastrian Homa with the Vedic Soma, but

the Parsees deny that their sacred plant is ever found in India, and

those dwelling in Bombay use the branch of a particular tree, having a

knotted stem and leaves like those of the Jasmine. To obtain supplies

of the Homa-plant for sacred purposes, a priest is despatched from time

to time to Kirman, in Persia, where he receives it in a dry state.

=HONESTY.=--Honesty (_Lunaria biennis_) has a variety of names. It

is called Lunary and Moonwort, from the disk-like form of its great

flat seed vessels, or their silvery and transparent brightness.

This peculiarity accounts for its nicknames of White Satin-flower,

Money-flower, and Silver Plate.----The _Lunaria biennis_ is mentioned

by Chaucer as one of the plants used in incantations:--

“And herbes coude I tell eke many on,

As Egremaine, Valerian, and Lunarie,

And other swiche, if that me list to tarie,

Our lampes brenning bothe night and day,

To bring about our craft if that we may,

Our fournies eke of calcination,

And of wateres albification.”

Drayton also refers to the virtues of the plant:--

“Enchanting Lunary here lies,

In sorceries excelling.”

The poet likewise tells us that this Lunary was considered efficacious

in the cure of madness.

“Then sprinkles she the juice of Rue

With nine drops of the midnight dew,

From Lunarie distilling.”

There is a popular superstition that wherever the purple Honesty is

found flourishing, the cultivators of the gardens are exceptionally

honest.

=HONEYSUCKLE.=--The Honeysuckle, or Woodbine (_Lonicera_), is so

called on account of the honey-dew found so plentifully on its

foliage. Originally, the word Honeysuckle was applied to the Meadow

Clover (_Trifolium pratense_), which is still so called in the Western

Counties. French Honeysuckle (_Hedysarum coronarium_) is a foreign

forage-plant. Chaucer makes the Woodbine an emblem of fidelity:

“And tho’ that were chapelets on his hede

Of fresh Wodebind be such as never were

To love untrue in word, ne thought, ne dede,

But ay, stedfast, ne for pleasaunce ne fere,

Tho’ that they shudde their hertis all to tere,

Would never flit, but ever were stedfast,

Till that ther livis there assunder brast.”

_Caprifolium_, a specific name of the Honeysuckle, was poetically used

by old botanists because the leaf, or rather the stem, climbs over high

places where goats fear not to tread: hence the plant is sometimes

called by country folks, Goat’s-leaf. One of its French names, also,

is _Chèvrefeuille_, which country _patois_ abbreviates to _Cherfeu_,

or Dear Flame: hence the plant is presented by ardent lovers to their

sweethearts as an intimation of the state of their affections.----The

French are fond of planting Honeysuckle in their cemeteries, and

Alphonse Karr describes it as a plant which seems to devote itself

to the tomb, the most magnificent bushes being found in cemeteries.

He further says: “There is a perfume more exciting, more religious,

even than that of incense; it is that of the Honeysuckles which grow

over tombs upon which Grass has sprung up thick and tufted with them,

as quickly as forgetfulness has taken possession of the hearts of

the survivors.”----In olden times, consumptive invalids, or children

suffering from hectic fever, were thrice passed through a circular

wreath of Woodbine, cut during the increase of the March moon, and

let down over the body from head to foot. We read of a sorceress, who

healed sundry women, by taking a garland of green Woodbine, and causing

the patient to pass thrice through it: afterwards the garland was cut

in nine pieces, and cast into the fire.----Woodbine appears to have

been a favourite remedy with Scotch witches, who, in effecting magical

cures passed their patients (generally) nine times through a girth or

garland of green Woodbine.----In Lower Germany, the Honeysuckle is

called _Albranke_, the witch snare.----Astrologers consider Woodbine to

be under the rule of Mercury.

=HOP.=--The Hop (_Humulus Lupulus_) is referred to in an old English

proverb:--

“Till St. James’s day be come and gone,

There may be Hops and there may be none.”

The cultivated Hop, however, was not brought into England until the

reign of Henry VIII., when it was imported from Flanders, as recorded

in the distich:--

“Hops and turkeys, mackerel and beer,

Came to England all in one year.”

The Hop-leaf has become in Russia proverbial as the best of leaves.

King Vladimir, in 985, when signing a peace with the Bulgars, swore to

keep it till stone swam on the water, or Hop-leaves sank to the bottom.

It is a very old custom in Russia to cover the head of a bride with

Hop-leaves--typifying joy, abundance, and intoxication.----Astrologers

place Hops under the rule of Mars.

=HOREHOUND.=--Horehound (_Marrubium_) is the Herb which the Egyptians

dedicated to their god Horus, and which the priests called the Seed of

Horus, or the Bull’s Blood, and the Eye of the Star. Strabo attributed

to the plant magical properties as a counter-poison. Horehound is one

of the five plants which are stated by the Mishna to be the “bitter

herbs” ordered to be taken by the Jews at the Feast of the Passover.

An infusion of its leaves has an ancient reputation as being valuable

in consumptive cases, coughs, and colds, and, according to Gerarde,

“is good for them that have drunke poyson, or that have been bitten of

serpents.” It is a herb of Mercury, hot in the second degree and dry

in the third.----To dream of Horehound indicates that you will suffer

imprisonment.

=HORNBEAM.=--Gerarde tells us that the Horn Beam (_Carpinus Betulus_)

was so called from its wood having been used to yoke horned cattle,

as well by the Romans in olden times as in his own time and country,

and growing so hard and tough with age as to be more like horn than

wood. Hence it was also called Hardbeam and Yoke-Elm. Evelyn says

the tree was called Horse-Beech; and in Essex it is known as the

Witch-Hazel.----In the country districts around Valenciennes, there

is a pleasant custom on May-day morning, when, over the doorway of

their sweethearts, rustic lovers hasten to suspend, as a sign of their

devotion, branches of Hornbeam or Birch.

=HORSE-CHESNUT.=--It has been suggested that the Horse-Chesnut

(_Æsculus Hippocastanum_) derived its name from the resemblance of

the cicatrix of its leaf to a horse-shoe, with all its nails evenly

placed. The old writers, however, seem to have considered that the

Horse-Chesnut was so called from the Nuts being used in Turkey (the

country from which we first received the tree) as food for horses

touched in the wind. Thus we read in Parkinson’s ‘_Paradisus_’:--“They

are usually in Turkey given to horses in their provender to cure them

of coughs, and help them being broken winded.”----Evlia Effendi, a

Moslem Dervish, who travelled over a large portion of the Turkish

empire in the beginning of the seventeenth century, says: “The Santon

Akyazli lived forty years under the shade of a wild Chesnut-tree, close

to which he is buried under a leaden-covered cupola. The Chesnuts,

which are as big as an egg, are wonderfully useful in the diseases

of horses.” Tradition says that this tree sprang from a stick which

the saint once thrust in the ground, that he might roast his meat

on it.----The Venetians entertain the belief that one of these Nuts

carried in the pocket is a sure charm against hemorrhoids.----When

Napoleon I. returned to France on March 20th, 1814, a Horse-Chesnut in

the Tuileries garden was found to be in full blossom. The Parisians

regarded this as an omen of welcome, and in succeeding years hailed

with interest the early flowering of the _Marronnier du Vingt

Mars_.----(See also CHESNUT).

=HORSE-KNOT.=--The flowers of the Horse-knot _Centaurea nigra_ are also

called Hard-heads and Iron-Heads, from the resemblance of the knotted

involucre to an old weapon called Loggerhead, which consisted of a ball

of iron fixed to a long handle, the precursor of the life-preserver,

and the origin of the expression “coming to loggerheads.”----In the

Northern Counties, the following rite is frequently observed by young

people as a divination:--Let a youth or maiden pull from its stalk the

flower of the Horse-Knot, cut the tops of the stamens with a pair of

scissors, and lay the flower by in a secret place, where no human eye

can see it. Let him (or her) think through the day, and dream through

the night, of the beloved one: then, on looking at the flower the next

day, if the stamens have shot out, the anxious sweetheart may expect

success in love; but if not, disappointment. (See CENTAURY).

=HORSERADISH.=--The Horseradish (_Cochlearia Armoracia_) is stated to

be one of the five plants referred to by the Mishna, as the “bitter

herbs” ordered to be partaken of by the Jews during the Feast of the

Passover; the other four being Coriander, Horehound, Lettuce, and

Nettle.----Horseradish is under the dominion of Mars.

=HORSE-SHOE PLANT.=--The Horse-shoe Vetch (_Hippocrepis_) derives

its scientific name from the Greek words, _hippos_, a horse, and

_crepis_, a shoe, in allusion to its singular pods, which resemble a

number of horse-shoes united at their extremities. Gerarde grew this

plant in his garden, but he tells us that it is a native of Italy and

Languedoc, where it flourishes in certain untilled and sunny places.

Its Italian name is _Sferracavallo_, and in De Gubernatis’ _Mythologie

des Plantes_, we find a letter to the author from Mdme. Valérie de

Gasparin, detailing the superstition current in Italy respecting this

plant. The Countess writes:--“In our infancy, certain old people of

the village spoke of the plant which pulls off horse-shoes. My brother

tells me that this superstition is to be found in all countries. It

takes its origin from the fact that the seed of the plant has the form

of a horse-shoe.”----The plant is also reputed by some people to open

locks. An identical superstition exists in England with regard to the

Moonwort (_Botrychium Lunaria_), which is known as Unshoe-the-Horse.

(See MOONWORT).

=HOUND’S TONGUE.=--The _Cynoglossum_ was probably so named on account

of the form and soft texture of the leaf. It is called Hound’s Tongue

not only in England, but all over the Continent, and the reason given

by an old writer is, that “it ties the tongues of hounds; whether true

or not, I never tried; yet I cured the biting of a mad dog with this

only medicine.” Miraldus said, that if a portion of the plant were laid

beneath the feet, it would prevent dogs from barking at the wearer.

Robert Turner states that Hound’s Tongue “cures the biting of dogs,

either mad or tame. I lay fourteen weeks once under a chyrurgeon’s hand

for cure of a dog’s biting; but, at last, I effected the cure myself,

by applying to the wound Hound’s Tongue leaves, changing them once in

four-and-twenty hours.” The plant has a strong and disagreeable odour,

which Gerarde tells us caused the Dutchmen to change the plant’s name,

substituting for “Tongue” an impolite word, expressive of the odour of

the foliage.----_Cynoglossum_ is a herb of Saturn.

=HOUSELEEK.=--The House-leek (_Sempervivum_) had, in olden times, the

names of Jupiter’s Beard, Jupiter’s Eye, Bullock’s Eye, and Sengreene

(a word derived from the Anglo-Saxon, and expressing the same idea

as the plant’s Latin name _Sempervivum_, evergreen). The old Dutch

name of the Houseleek, _Donderbloem_, Thunder-flower, refers to the

popular belief that the plant was a preservative against thunder.

Charlemagne ordered the Houseleek to be planted on the roof of every

house on this account. Miraldus is stated to have declared that this

lowly plant preserves what it grows upon from fire and lightning; and

Sir Thomas Browne has left on record his belief that Houseleek is a

“defensative from lightning.”----In olden times there existed a belief

that Houseleek would suppress in children fevers given to them by

witchcraft or sorcery. According to Albertus Magnus, he who rubbed his

hands with the juice of the Houseleek would be insensible to pain when

taking red-hot iron in his hands.----It is considered unlucky to uproot

the Houseleek; and there is a curious notion, still in existence, that

it is also unlucky to let it blow; the flower-stalk is, therefore,

carefully cut off directly it begins to shoot up.----In Italy, on

Midsummer Eve, rustic maidens employ Houseleek for divining purposes.

They gather buds to represent their various lovers, and on the

following morning the bud which has flowered the most freely indicates

the future husband. In Tuscany, they pound the Houseleek the first

Friday after the birth of an infant, and administer to it the expressed

juice, which is thought to preserve the babe from convulsions, and to

ensure it a long life.----According to astrologers, Houseleek is a herb

of Jupiter.

HURT-SICKLE.--See Centaury.

=HYACINTH.=--From the time of Homer to the present day the Hyacinth

has been celebrated in the lays of the poets. Mythology tells us that

the flower sprang from the blood of Hyacinthus, a comely Laconian

youth, much beloved both by Apollo and Zephyr: preferring, however,

the sun to the wind, he kindled in the breast of the latter god a

feeling of jealousy and desire for revenge. The opportunity soon

came. Unsuspecting Hyacinthus playing a game of quoits with Apollo,

Zephyr, unperceived, seized the opportunity basely to cause his rival

to become the innocent means of their common favourite’s death: for

whilst a quoit thrown by the sun-god whirled through the air, Zephyr

treacherously blew it from its course till it struck the head of the

ill-fated Hyacinthus, and killed him, to the great sorrow of his

innocent slayer. Unable to restore his favourite companion to life,

Apollo, as a memorial of him, caused the flower which has since borne

his name to spring from his blood. Rapin refers to the story as

follows:--

“If spring proves mild ’tis Hyacinthus’ time,

A flower which also rose from Phœbus’ crime;

Th’ unhappy quoit which rash Apollo threw,

Obliquely flying, smote his tender brow,

And pale alike he fell, and Phœbus stood,

One pale with guilt, and one with loss of blood;

Whence a new flower with sudden birth appears,

And still the mark of Phœbus’ sorrow wears;

Spring it adorns, and Summer’s scenes supplies

With blooms of various forms and various dyes.”

Ovid gives a slightly different version of the tragedy, which he

narrates in the following lines:--

“The mid-day sun now shone with equal light

Between the past and the succeeding night;

They strip, then, smoothed with suppling oil, essay

To pitch the rounded quoit, their wonted play:

A well-pois’d disk first hasty Phœbus threw;

It cleft the air, and whistled as it flew;

It reach’d the mark, a most surprising length,

Which spoke an equal share of art and strength.

Scarce was it fall’n, when with too eager hand

Young Hyacinth ran to snatch it from the sand;

But the curst orb, which met a stony soil,

Flew in his face with violent recoil.

Both faint, both pale and breathless now appear,

The boy with pain, the am’rous god with fear.

He ran, and rais’d him bleeding from the ground,

Chafes his cold limbs, and wipes the fatal wound:

Then herbs of noblest juice in vain applies;

The wound is mortal, and his skill defies.”

* * * * *

“While Phœbus thus the laws of fate reveal’d,

Behold the blood which stained the verdant field

Is blood no longer; but a flower full blown

Far brighter than the Tyrian scarlet shone.

A Lily’s form it took; its purple hue

Was all that made a diff’rence to the view.

Nor stopp’d he here; the god upon its leaves

The sad expression of his sorrow leaves;

And to this hour the mournful purple wears

_Ai_, _Ai_, inscribed in funeral characters.

Nor are the Spartans, who so much are famed

For virtue, of their Hyacinth ashamed;

But still with pompous woe and solemn state,

The Hyacinthian feasts they yearly celebrate.”--_Ozell._

The solemnities called _Hyacinthia_ lasted three days, during which the

people ate no bread, but subsisted on sweetmeats, and abstained from

decorating their hair with garlands, as on ordinary occasions. On the

second day, a troop of youths entertained spectators by playing upon

the harp and flute, and chanting choruses in honour of Apollo. Numbers

appeared mounted upon richly-caparisoned horses, who sang rustic songs,

and were accompanied by a throng dancing to vocal and instrumental

music. Females engaged in chariot races, and the most beautiful

maidens, sumptuously attired, drove about in splendidly adorned

vehicles, singing hymns. Hundreds of victims were offered on the altars

of Apollo; and the votaries with free-handed hospitality entertained

their friends and slaves.----Many allusions are made by the poets to

the mournful letters A I, supposed to be visible on the petals of

“The languid Hyacinth, who wears

His bitter sorrows painted on his bosom.”

Hunt, after entering into the vexed question as to the particular

flower alluded to by Ovid, quotes a passage from Moschus, which he thus

translates:--

“Now tell your story, Hyacinth, and show

_Ai_, _Ai_, the more amidst your sanguine woe.”

There has been much diversity of opinion expressed about the Hyacinth

of the ancient poets. The claims of the modern flower to be the purple

blossom that sprang from the blood of Hyacinthus are disputed, and the

general opinion is that the Martagon Lily was the plant referred to

by the poet. The Gladiolus and the Larkspur, however, have both been

named as the flower bearing the expression of grief A I, A I, on the

petals.----Homer mentions the Hyacinth among the flowers which formed

the couch of Jupiter and Juno.

“Thick new-born Violets a soft carpet spread

And clust’ring Lotus swelled the rising bed,

And sudden Hyacinths the turf bestrow

And flow’ry Crocus made the mountains glow.”

In allusion to the crisped and curled blossoms of the Hyacinth, poets

have been fond of describing curly hair as Hyacinthine locks. Milton

writes:--

“And Hyacinthine locks

Round from his parted forelock manly hung

Clustering.”

Byron makes the same comparison, and says the idea is common to both

Eastern and Grecian poets. Collins has the same simile in his ‘Ode to

Liberty.’

“The youths, whose locks divinely spreading,

Like vernal Hyacinths in sullen hue.”

The old English Jacinth, or Harebell, called by the French _Jacinthe

des bois_ (Wood Hyacinth) is botanically distinguished as _Hyacinthus

non scriptus_, because it has not the A I on the petals, and is not

therefore the poetical Hyacinth. (See HAREBELL).

HYPERICUM.--See St. John’s Wort.

=HYSSOP.=--In the Bible, the name of Hyssop has been given to some

plant that has not been identified, but is popularly associated at the

present day with _Hyssopus officinalis_. In many early representations

of the Crucifixion, wild Hyssop has been depicted, it is presumed in

mockery, as forming the crown worn by our Saviour. Parkinson, in his

‘_Paradisus_,’ says of the Golden Hyssop, that the leaves “provoke

many gentlewomen to wear them in their heads and on their armes,

with as much delight as many fine flowers can give.”----To dream of

Hyssop portends that friends will be instrumental to your peace and

happiness.----The plant is under Jupiter’s dominion.

=ILEX.=--The Ilex (_Quercus Ilex_) is, perhaps, better known in England

as the Evergreen or Holm Oak: in France, it is called _Chêne vert_.

On account of its dark and evergreen foliage, the Ilex is regarded as

a funereal tree, and a symbol of immortality, like the Cypress, the

Cedar, and other conifers. It was consecrated to Hecate, and the Fates

wore chaplets of its leaves. The drunken Silenus was wont, also, to

be crowned with its foliage.----Virgil associates the Ilex with the

raven, and tells us that from its dark foliage may be heard issuing

the mournful croakings of that funereal bird. Ovid, on the other

hand, informs us that, in the Golden Age, the bees, living emblems

of the immortal soul, sought the Ilex, to obtain material for their

honey.----Pliny speaks of a venerable Ilex which grew in the Vatican

at Rome, which bore an inscription, and was regarded as a sacred tree;

and of three of these trees at Tibur, which the inhabitants venerated

as being almost the founders of the people.----The Ilex being very

combustible, and attracting lightning, was thought to render thereby a

service to man, in drawing upon itself the effects of the anger of the

gods: hence it is somewhat remarkable that in Greece it is regarded as

a tree of bad omen, and has the following legend attached to it:--When

it was decided at Jerusalem to crucify Christ, all the trees held a

counsel, and unanimously agreed not to allow their wood to be defiled

by becoming the instrument of punishment. But there was a second Judas

among the trees. When the Jews arrived with axes to procure wood for

the cross destined for Jesus, every trunk and branch split itself into

a thousand fragments, so that it was impossible to use it for the

cross. The Ilex alone remained whole, and gave up its trunk for the

purpose of being fashioned into the instrument of the Passion. So to

this day the Grecian woodcutters have such a horror of the tree, that

they fear to sully their axe or their hearth-stones by bringing them in

contact with the accursed wood. However, according to the _Dicta Sancti

Aegidii_ (quoted by De Gubernatis), Jesus Himself would seem to have

a preference for the tree which generously gave itself up to die with

the Redeemer; for we find that on most occasion when he appeared to the

saints, it was near an Ilex-tree.----In Russia, the Ilex, so far from

being regarded with disdain, is looked upon as a benefactor and worker

of miraculous cures among children. In certain districts, whenever a

child is ill, and especially when it is suffering from consumption,

they carry it into the forest, where they cleave in two the stem of an

Ilex, and pass the child thrice through the cleft, after which they

close the cut stem, and bind it securely with cord. Then they carry the

child round the tree thrice nine times (the number of days composing

the lunar month). Lastly they hang on the branches the child’s shirt,

so that the martyr-tree may generously take to itself all the disease

hitherto afflicting the child.

=INGUDI.=--In Bengal, they ascribe to the plant Ingudi (_Terminalia,

catappa_) the extraordinary property of begetting infants. According

to De Gubernatis, the _Tâpatasaru_ is also called the Tree of the

Anchorite, because with an oil extracted from the crushed fruit the

Indian ascetics prepare the oil for their lamps.

=IPECACUANHA.=--The root of the _Psychotria emetica_ is used generally

as an expectorant, but in India in cases of dysentery: its sexsyllabic

nomenclature has been thus immortalised by George Canning:--

“Coughing in a shady grove,

Sat my Juliana;

Lozenges I gave my love:

Ipecacuanha!”

=IPOMŒA.=--The Ipomœas are nearly allied to the _Convolvuli_, and are

among the most lovely of all shrubs. The rosy-red _Kâmalatâ_, the

Love’s Creeper of the Hindus, is a plant by which all desires are

granted to such as inherit the Indian Paradise. _Ipomœa Bona-nox_,

“Good-night,” is so named in allusion to its opening its flowers in the

evening.

=IRIS.=--The Iris of “all hues” derives its name from the goddess

Iris, one of the Oceanides, a messenger of the gods, and the especial

attendant of Juno. As goddess of the rainbow, she is represented with

its variegated colours glistening in her wings. Thus Virgil says:--

“Iris on saffron wings arrayed with dew

Of various colours through the sunbeams flew.”

Iris is usually depicted as descending from the rainbow, and her

glorious arch is said not to vary more in its colours than the flower

which bears her name. Columella observes--

“Nor Iris with her glorious rainbow clothed

So fulgent as the cheerful gardens shine

With their bright offspring, when they’re in their bloom.”

The Greeks plant the Iris on tombs, possibly because the goddess

Iris was believed to guide the souls of dead women to their last

resting-place, as Mercury conducted the souls of men. The Iris was one

of the flowers dedicated to Juno, and with the ancients was wont to

be employed as the symbol of eloquence or power; hence the Egyptians

placed this flower on the brow of the Sphinx, and on the sceptres

of their monarchs. The three leaves of the blossom represent faith,

wisdom, and valour. The Iris is supposed to be the flower which

forms the terminating ornament of the sceptre of the ancient kings

of Babylon and Assyria.----The Franks of old had a custom, at the

proclamation of a king, to elevate him upon a shield, or target, and

place in his hand a reed of Flag in blossom, instead of a sceptre,

and from thence the kings of the first and second race in France are

represented with sceptres in their hands like the Flag with its flower,

and which flowers became the armorial figures of France.----There

is a legend that Clotilda, the wife of the warlike king Clovis, had

long prayed for the conversion of her husband, and at length Clovis,

having led his army against the Huns, and being in imminent danger of

defeat, recommended himself to the God of his sainted wife. The tide

of battle turned, he obtained a complete victory, and was baptised by

St. Remi. On this occasion, owing to a vision of St. Clotilda, the

Lilies (Iris) were substituted in the arms of France for the three

frogs or toads which Clovis had hitherto borne on his shield. In the

pictures of St. Clotilda, she is generally represented attended by

an angel holding a shield on which are the three _Fleurs de Lys_.

This occurred early in the sixth century. Louis VII., in consequence

of a dream, assumed it as his device in 1137, when engaged in the

second expedition of the Crusaders, and the Iris-flower soon became

celebrated in France as the _Fleur de Louis_, which was first

contracted into _Fleur de Luce_, and afterwards into _Fleur de Lys_,

or _Fleur de Lis_ (Lily-flower--although it has no affinity to the

Lily), and was incorporated in the arms of France, and formed one of

the embellishments of the crown.----Pope Leo III. presented Charlemagne

with a blue banner, _semée_ of golden _Fleurs de Lys_, and the banner

coming from the Pope was supposed by the ignorant to have descended

from heaven.----Other traditions respecting this blue banner relate

that an angel gave it to Charlemagne, that St. Denis gave it to the

kings of France, and that an angel brought it to Clovis after his

baptism.----The _Fleur de Lys_ appertains to the Bourbon race, and

was made the ornament of the northern radius of the compass in honour

of Charles of Anjou, who was King of Sicily at the time of this great

discovery. When Edward III. claimed the crown of France in 1340, he

quartered the ancient shield of France with the lion of England. After

many changes of position, the _Fleur de Lys_ finally disappeared from

the English shield in the first year of the present century. (See also

FLOWER DE LUCE).

IRON-HEAD and HARD-HEAD.--See Horse-Knot.

=IVY.=--Kissos (Greek for Ivy) was the original name of the infant

Bacchus, who, abandoned by his mother Semele, was hidden under an

Ivy-bush, which was subsequently named after him. Another Hellenic

tradition makes Kissos a son of Bacchus, who, whilst dancing before

his father, suddenly dropped down dead. The goddess Gæa (the Earth),

compassionating the unfortunate youth, changed him into the Ivy, which

afterwards received his name--Kissos.----The god Bacchus is said to

have worshipped the Ivy under the name of _Kissos_; the plant was

sacred to him, and he is represented crowned with the leaves of Ivy as

well as with those of the Vine. The god’s thyrsus was also crowned with

Ivy. In Greece and Rome, Black Ivy was used to decorate the thyrsus of

Bacchus in commemoration of his march through India. This Ivy bears

yellow berries, and is common in the Himalayas; it was, therefore,

appropriately selected as the shrub wherewith to crown Alexander in his

Indian expedition.----According to Plutarch, the priests of Jupiter

were bound to shun the Vine (in order to preserve themselves from

intoxication), and to touch the Ivy, which was believed to impart a

sort of prophetic transport. Bacchus, therefore, crowned with Ivy,

became a god both victorious and prophetic.----At the Dionysian

festivals, the worshippers were crowned with Ivy, Vine-leaves, Fir,

&c. Certain of the men engaged in the procession wore chaplets of Ivy

and Violets, and the women--who, worked up into a kind of frenzy,

executed fantastic dances--often carried garlands and strings of

Ivy-leaves.----Pliny says that Ivy-berries, taken before wine, prevent

its intoxicating effects. Probably the Bacchanals’ chaplet and the

Ivy-bough formerly used as the sign of a tavern, both derived their

origin from the belief that Ivy in some form counteracted the effects

of wine.----On this point, Coles says: “Box and Ivy last long green,

and therefore vintners make their garlands thereof; though, perhaps,

Ivy is the rather used because of the antipathy between it and wine.”

Kennett tells us that, in olden times, “the booths in fairs were

commonly dressed with Ivy-leaves, as a token of wine there sold, the

Ivy being sacred to Bacchus; so was the tavern bush, or frame of wood,

drest round with Ivy forty years since, though now left off for tuns

or barrels hung in the middle of it. This custom gave birth to the

present practice of putting out a green bush at the door of those

private houses which sell drink during the fair.” De Gubernatis says,

that the Ivy to be seen over the doors of Italian wine-shops has the

same signification as the Oak-bough--it is a precaution to render the

wine innocuous. Chéruel tell us that the French, in suspending Ivy at

the door of their cabarets, intend it as a symbol of love.----Ivy,

which clings and embraces, has been adopted as the emblem of confiding

love and friendship.----There is an old Cornish tradition which

relates that the beauteous Iseult, unable to endure the loss of her

betrothed, the valiant Tristan, died broken-hearted, and was buried in

the same church, but, by order of the king, their graves were placed

far asunder. But soon from the tomb of Tristan came forth a branch of

Ivy, and from the tomb of Iseult there issued another branch. Both

gradually grew upwards, until at last the lovers, represented by

the clinging Ivy, were again united beneath the vaulted roof of the

sanctuary.----In Greece, the altar of Hymen was encircled with Ivy, and

a branch of it was presented to the newly-married couple, as a symbol

of the indissoluble knot. It formed the crown of both Greek and Roman

poets; and in modern times, female love, constancy, and dependence have

been expressed by it. Friendship is sometimes symbolised by a fallen

tree, firmly embraced by the verdant arms of the Ivy, with the motto:

“Nothing can part us.”----In Northern mythology, Ivy, on account of its

black colour, was dedicated to Thor, the god of thunder, and offered to

the elf who was supposed to be his messenger.----When, in Germany, they

drive the cattle for the first time to pasture, they deck them with a

branch of Ivy fashioned into a crown. They believe also that he who

carries on his head a crown of Ivy acquires the faculty of recognising

witches. In the Tyrol, a similar belief holds good, only there, Rue,

Broom, Maidenhair, and Agrimony must be bound together with Ground-Ivy

in a bundle, which is to be kept about the person.----In Ross-shire,

it is a May-day custom for young girls to pluck sprays of Ivy with the

dew on them that have not been touched by steel.----Ivy has long been

used in decorating churches and houses at Christmas: thus old Tusser

directs:--“Get Ivye and Hull [Holly], woman, deck up thine house.” It

seems in the middle ages to have been regarded as a most favoured and

auspicious plant; one old song couples the Ivy and Holly as plants

well adapted for Christmas time, and the following mediæval carol

sings loudly the plant’s praises:--

“The most worthy she is in towne;

He that sayeth other do amysse;

And worthy to bear the crowne:

_Veni, coronaberis_.

“Ivy is soft and meke of speech,

Ageynst all bale she is blysse;

Well is he that may hyre rech.

_Veni, coronaberis._

“Ivy is green, with coloure bright,

Of all trees best she is,

And that I prove will now be right.

_Veni, coronaberis._

“Ivy beryth berrys black,

God graunt us all His blysse,

For there shall we nothing lack.

_Veni, coronaberis._”

According to an old poem in the British Museum, however, Ivy was

considered by some good people only fit to ornament the porches and

outer passages of houses, but not the interior.

“Nay my nay, hyt shall not be I wis,

Let Holly have the maystry, as the maner ys.

Holly stoud in the hall, fayre to behold,

Ivy stoud without the dore, she ys ful sore a-cold.

Nay my nay.”

Corymbifer was a surname given to Bacchus, from his wearing a crown

of _corymbi_, or Ivy-berries. These berries were recommended by old

physicians as a remedy for the plague, and Pliny averred that when

taken before wine, they prevented its intoxicating effects.----There

is a popular tradition that an Ivy cup has the property of separating

wine from water--the former soaking through, and the latter remaining.

An old writer remarks that those who are troubled with the spleen shall

find much ease by the continual drinking out of a cup made of Ivy, so

as the drink may stand some time therein before it be drunk; for, he

adds, “Cato saith that wine put into the Ivy cup will soak through

it by reason of the antipathy that is between them;” this antipathy

being so great that a drunkard “will find his speediest cure if he

drunk a draught of the same wine wherein a handful of Ivy-leaves had

been steeped.”----The ancient Scottish clan Gordon claim Ivy as their

badge.----Ivy is under the dominion of Saturn. It is considered to be

exceedingly favourable to dream of the evergreen climber, portending

as it does, friendship, happiness, good fortune, honour, riches, and

success.

Ground-Ivy is a name which was formerly applied to the Periwinkle,

and to the Ground Pine or Yellow Bugle (called till the beginning

of the present century the Forget-Me-Not), but which was afterwards

transferred to the _Nepeta Glechoma_, a plant also known by the rustic

names of Gill and Gill-by-the-ground, Haymaids, Cat’s-foot, Ale-hoof,

and Tun-hoof. In olden times, it was put into ale, instead of hops, and

was also used to clear ale. The juice of the leaves, tunned up in ale,

was thought to cure the jaundice and other complaints.

JACINTH.--See Hyacinth.

JACK-BY-THE-HEDGE.--See Erysimum.

JACK-OF-THE-BUTTERY.--See Stonecrop.

=JACOB’S LADDER.=--The _Polemonium cœruleum_, from its leaflets being

arranged in successive pairs.

=JAMBU.=--The Jambu (_Eugenia Jambos_) is included among the great

Indian cosmogonic trees. It is called, says Prof. De Gubernatis, the

Fruit of Kings, on account of the great size of its fruit. According to

the _Vishnu purâna_, the continent _Jambudvîpa_ took its name from the

tree Jambu. The fruits of this tree are in point of fact very large,

but the fruits of the Indian mythological Jambu attain to the size

of an elephant; when they have ripened they fall from the mountain,

and the juice which exudes feeds the river Jambu, whose waters are

consequently richly endowed with salutary properties, and can neither

be tainted nor defiled. We learn from the _Dîrghâgama-Sûtra_, that

the four cardinal points were not only represented by the four

elephants which sustained the world, but by four trees of colossal

bulk and grandeur. These four trees were the _Ghanta_, the _Kadamba_,

the _Ambala_, and the _Jambu_. The _Jambu_ sprang, it is said, from

the south of the mountain Meru, of which the summit was believed to

represent the zenith. In the cosmogonic forest of the Himalaya towers

the stupendous bulk of the Jambu, and from its roots four great rivers,

whose waters are inexhaustible, take their source. It bears during the

entire _kalpa_ of the renovation an immortal fruit, like unto gold,

great as the vase called _Mahâkala_. This fruit falls into the rivers,

and its pips produce the golden seed which is carried away to the sea,

and which is sometimes washed up again, and to be found on its shores.

This gold is of incalculable value, and has not its equal in the world

for purity.----It appears, according to the _Saptaçataka_ of Hâla, that

Indian lovers are fond of secreting themselves beneath the leaves of

the _Eugenia Jambos_, and that the young Indian bride becomes sad with

jealousy when she sees her young husband approaching, with his ears

decked with the leaves of the Jambu.

=JASMINE.=--Perfumes and flowers play an important part in the poetry

of India, and the Jasmine, which Hindu poets call the “Moonlight

of the Grove,” has furnished them with countless images. Thus, in

_Anvár-i-Suhailî_ (translated by E. B. Eastwick), we read of a damsel

entering the king’s chamber, whose face charms like a fresh Rosebud

which the morning breeze has caused to blow, and whose ringlets are

compared to the twisting Hyacinth buried in an envelope of the purest

Musk:--

“With Hyacinth and Jasmine her perfumed hair was bound,

A posy of sweet Violets her clustering ringlets seemed;

Her eyes with love intoxicate, in witching sleep half drowned,

Her locks, to Indian Spikenard like,

with love’s enchantments beamed.”

De Tassy, the translator of the allegories of Aziz Eddin, points

out that the Arabian word _yâs-min_ is composed of the word _yâs_,

despair, and _min_, an illusion. In the allegories we read: “Then the

Jasmine uttered this sentence with the expressive eloquence of its

mute language: “_Despair is a mistake._ My penetrating odour excels

the perfume of other flowers; therefore lovers select me as a suitable

offering to their mistresses; they extract from me the invisible

treasures of divinity, and I can only rest when enclosed in the folds

and pleats which form in the body of a robe.”----An allusion to the

Jasmine is made in the following poetic description of a young girl

drooping from a sudden illness:--“All of a sudden the blighting glance

of unpropitious fortune having fallen on that Rose-cheeked Cypress,

she laid her head on the pillow of sickness; and in the flower-garden

of her beauty, in place of the Damask-Rose, sprang up the branch of

the Saffron. Her fresh Jasmine, from the violence of the burning

illness, lost its moisture, and her Hyacinth, full of curls, lost

all its endurance from the fever that consumed her.”----The Indians

cultivate specially for their perfume two species of Jasmine--viz., the

_Jasminum grandiflorum_, or _Tore_, and the _J. hirsutum_, or _Sambac_.

The _Moo-le-hua_, a powerful-smelling Jasmine, is used in China and

other parts of the East as an adornment for the women’s hair.----It

is believed that the Jasmine was first introduced into Europe by some

Spaniards, who brought it from the East Indies in 1560.----Loudon

relates that a variety of the Jasmine, with large double flowers and

exquisite scent, was first procured in 1699 from Goa, by the Grand Duke

of Tuscany, and so jealous was he of being the sole possessor of this

species, that he strictly forbade his gardener to part with a single

cutting. However the gardener was in love, and so, on the birthday of

his betrothed, he presented her with a nosegay, in the midst of which

was a sprig of this rare Jasmine. Charmed with its fragrance, the girl

planted the sprig in fresh mould, and under her lover’s instructions

was soon able to raise cuttings from the plant, and to sell them at

a high price: by this means she soon saved enough money to enable

her to wed the gardener, who had hitherto been too poor to alter his

condition. In memory of this tender episode, the damsels of Tuscany

still wear a wreath of Jasmine on their wedding days, and the event

has given rise to a saying that a “girl worthy of wearing the Jasmine

wreath is rich enough to make her husband happy.”----Yellow Jasmine

is the flower of the Epiphany.----To dream of this beautiful flower

foretells good luck; to lovers it is a sure sign they will be speedily

married.

=JERUSALEM.=--Many plants are found to have been named in olden times

after the Holy City. The Lungwort, _Pulmonaria officinalis_, is the

Jerusalem Cowslip; _Phlomis_ is Jerusalem Sage; and _Teucrium Botrys_

is the Oak of Jerusalem, called so from the resemblance of its leaf to

that of the Oak. In these three cases the prefix “Jerusalem” seems to

have been applied for no particular reason--probably because the plants

had an Eastern origin. Salsafy, _Tragopogon porrifolius_, is the Star

of Jerusalem, so named from the star-like expansion of its involucre;

and _Helianthus tuberosus_ is the Jerusalem Artichoke, a plant of the

same genus as the Sunflower, called Artichoke from the flavour of its

tubers. The soup made from it is termed Palestine Soup. In the last two

cases, Dr. Prior thinks the prefix “Jerusalem” is simply a corruption

of the Italian word _girasole_, turn-sun, and has been applied to these

plants from a popular belief that they turn with the Sun. The _Lychnis

Chalcedonica_ is the Jerusalem Cross, which has derived its name from

the fact that a variety of it has four instead of five petals, of the

colour and form of a Jerusalem Cross.

=JEWS’ EARS.=--The _Auricula Judæ_ is a Fungus resembling in shape

the human ear, which grows usually upon the trunks of the Elder, the

tree upon which Judas Iscariot is said by some to have hung himself.

Sir John Maundevile relates that he actually saw the identical tree.

Bacon says of this excrescence, “There is an herb called Jewes-Eare,

that groweth upon the roots and lower parts of the bodies of trees,

especially of Elders, and sometimes Ashes. It hath a strange propertie;

for in warme water it swelleth, and openeth extremely. It is not

greene, but of a darke browne colour. And it is used for squinancies

and inflammations in the throat, whereby it seemeth to have a

mollifying and lenifying vertue.”

=JOAN’S SILVER PIN.=--The red-Poppy (_Papaver Rhœas_) has acquired the

name of Joan’s Silver Pin, because, according to Parkinson, the gaudy

flower is “fair without and foul within” (in allusion to its yellow

juice). Joan’s Silver Pin was a contemptuous term applied to some

tawdry ornament displayed ostentatiously by a sloven.

=JOB’S TEARS.=--The pretty East Indian Grass, _Coix lacryma_, is called

Job’s Tears on account of the formation of its hard beard-like seeds,

of which Gerarde says “every graine resembleth the drop or teare

that falleth from the eye.”----Among the Arabs, the Fleabane (_Inula

dysenterica_) is also called Job’s Tears (See FLEABANE).

=JONAH’S GOURD.=--According to the Greek version of the Scriptures,

the plant under which Jonah sat was a Gourd, but the Vulgate considers

it a species of Ivy. The _Ricinus communis_, the Castor-oil-tree, with

its broad palmate leaves, has been, however, identified with the

_Kikayon_, which God caused to rise up and shelter Jonah.

JOSEPH’S FLOWER.--See Goat’s Beard.

=JUDAS TREE.=--The Fig, the Tamarisk, the Aspen, the Dog Rose, the

Elder, and the Cercis have all been named as the tree from whose

boughs the traitorous Judas, overcome with remorse, hung himself

in guilty despair. The idea that the Fig-tree was the tree whereon

Judas sought his fate, is a wide-spread one, and probably derives

its origin from the fact of our Lord having cursed an unproductive

Fig-tree,--the tradition being that, after this malediction, the tree

lost its foliage, and soon died; that its wood, when put in the fire,

produced smoke, but no flame; and that all its progeny from that

time forth became wild Fig-trees.----A Fig-tree growing on the coast

of Coromandel, bears the name of Judas’ Purse.----De Gubernatis, on

the authority of Dr. J. Pitré, states that, according to a Sicilian

tradition, Judas was not hung on a Fig, but on a Tamarisk-tree, called

_Vruca_ (_Tamarix Africana_), much more common than the _Tamarix

Gallica_. The _Vruca_ is only a shrub; but, say the Sicilians, once

upon a time it was a great tree, and very handsome. Since, however,

the traitor Judas hung himself from its boughs, the tree, owing to a

Divine malediction, became merely a shrub, ugly, mis-shapen, small,

useless, not even capable of lighting even the smallest fire; from

whence has arisen the proverb: “You are like the wood of the _Vruca_,

which neither yields cinders nor fire.”----A Russian proverb says:

“There is a tree which trembles, although the wind does not blow.”

In the Ukraine, they state that the leaves of the Aspen (_Populus

tremula_) have trembled and shaken ever since the day that Judas

hanged himself on a bough of that tree.----In Germany, the Dog Rose

(_Rosa canina_) is a tree of ill repute, and according to tradition,

one with which the Devil has had dealings. (See EGLANTINE). There is

a legend that Judas hanged himself on this tree; that in consequence

it became accursed, and ever after turned to the earth the points of

its thorns; and that from this cause its berries, to this day, are

called _Judasbeeren_.----In England and other countries, there has

long existed a tradition that the Elder was the tree on which the

traitor-disciple hanged himself. Sir John Maundevile, in his ‘Travels,’

declares that he saw the identical tree; and we read in ‘Piers

Plowman’s Vision’:--

“Judas, he japed

With Jewen silver,

And sithen _on an Eller_

Hanged hymselfe.”

Gerarde, however, in his ‘Herbal’ (1597) denies that the Elder was the

tree, but states that the _Arbor Judæ_, the Judas-tree, is the _Cercis

Siliquastrum_ (Wild Carob-tree). “It may,” says the old herbalist,

“be called in English Judas-tree, for that it is thought to be that

whereon Judas hanged himselfe, and not upon the Elder-tree, as it is

vulgarly said.” A similar belief is entertained by the French and

Italians, who regard the _Cercis Siliquastrum_ as an infamous tree.

The Judas-tree grows about twenty feet high, has pale green foliage

and purple papilionaceous flowers, which appear in the Spring in large

clusters: they are succeeded by long flat pods, containing a row of

seeds. Curiously enough, the Spaniards and Portuguese, on account of

what Gerarde terms its “braveness,” call it the “Tree of Love.”

=JUJUBE.=--The real Jujube-tree is _Zizyphus Jujuba_, a native of the

East Indies, nearly allied to the _Paliurus_, or Christ’s Thorn: it

bears similar yellow flowers and fruit about the size of a middling

plum. It is sweet and mealy, and highly esteemed by the natives of the

countries to which the tree is indigenous. The lozenges called Jujubes

are made from the fruit of _Zizyphus vulgaris_, which ripens abundantly

in the neighbourhood of Paris.

JULY FLOWER, the Stock Gilliflower.--See Stock.

=JUNIPER.=--The ancients called the Juniper generally by the name of

Cedar, although Pliny distinguishes the two. Thus Virgil is supposed to

have alluded to the Juniper in the line in his ‘Georgic’:--

“_Disce et odoratam stabulis accendere Cedrum._”

“But learn to burn within your sheltering rooms

Sweet Juniper.”

The Juniper was consecrated to the Furies. The smoke of its green

roots was the incense which the ancients deemed most acceptable to

the infernal gods; and they burned its berries during funerals to

ban malign influences.----The Juniper has always been looked upon

as a protective tree; its powerful odour is stated to defeat the

keen scent of the hound, and the hunted hare at the last extremity

will seek and find a safe retreat in the cover of its branches. It

sheltered the prophet Elijah from the persecutions of King Ahab, and

we read in 1 Kings xix., 4, that the prophet lay and slept “under

a Juniper-tree.”----According to a tradition common in Italy, the

Virgin Mary fled for safety with the infant Jesus, pursued by the

relentless soldiers of King Herod. Whilst on their road, the Brooms

and the Chick-Peas began to rustle and crackle, and by this noise

betrayed the fugitives. The Flax bristled up. Happily for her, Mary

was near a Juniper: the hospitable tree opened it branches as arms,

and enclosed the Virgin and Child within their folds, affording them

a secure hiding-place. Then the Virgin uttered a malediction against

the Brooms and the Chick-Peas, and ever since that day they have

always rustled and crackled. The Holy Mother pardoned the Flax its

weakness, and gave to the Juniper her blessing: on that account, in

Italy, branches of Juniper are hung up on Christmas Day in stables

and cattle sheds, just as in England, France, and Switzerland, Holly

is employed as a decoration.----In Thibet, they burn Juniper-wood as

incense in a gigantic altar, with an aperture at the top, which is

called _Song-boom_, and bears some resemblance to a limekiln.----The

old notion of the ancients that the burning of Juniper-wood expelled

evil spirits from houses evidently led to some superstitious practices

in this country in later times. Thus we find Bishop Hall writing:--

“And with glasse stills, and sticks of Juniper,

Raise the black spright that burns not with the fire.”

In some parts of Scotland, during the prevalence of an epidemic,

certain mysterious ceremonies are enacted, in which the burning of

Juniper-wood plays an important part.-----In Germany and Italy, the

Juniper is the object of a superstitious reverence on account of its

supposed property of dispersing evil spirits. According to Herr Weber,

in some parts of Italy, holes or fissures in houses are brushed over

with Juniper-boughs to prevent evil spirits introducing sickness;

in other parts, boughs of Juniper are suspended before doorways,

under the extraordinary belief that witches who see the Juniper are

seized with an irresistible mania to count all its small leaves,

which, however, are so numerous that they are sure to make a mistake

in counting, and, becoming impatient, go away for fear of being

surprised and recognised.----In Waldeck, Germany, when infants fall

ill, their parents place in a bunch of Juniper some bread and wool,

in order to induce bad spirits to eat, to spin, and so forget the

poor little suffering babe. In Germany, a certain _Frau Wachholder_

is held to be the personification and the presiding spirit of the

Juniper, who is invoked in order that thieves may be compelled to give

up their ill-gotten spoils: this invocation takes place with certain

superstitious ceremonies beneath the shadow of a Juniper, a branch of

which is bent to the earth. In Germany, also, the Juniper, like the

Holly, is believed to drive away from houses and stables, spells and

witchcraft of all description, and specially to cast out from cows

and horses the monsters which are sometimes believed mysteriously to

haunt them. For a similar reason, in Germany, in order to strengthen

horses, and to render them tractable and quiet, they administer to

them on three successive Sundays before sunrise, three handfuls of

salt, and seventy-two Juniper-berries. Prof. De Gubernatis tells us

that from a rare Italian book which he possesses, he finds that in

Bologna it is customary on Christmas Eve to distribute in most houses

branches of Juniper; and moreover, that the best authorities have

proved the omnipotence of Juniper against serpents and venomous beasts,

who by their bites represent sins; and that the Juniper furnished

the wood for the Cross of the Saviour and protected the Prophet

Elijah.----In Tuscany, the Juniper receives a benediction in church

on Palm Sunday.----In Venetia, Juniper is burnt to purify the air,

recalling the ancient Roman custom of burning it instead of incense on

the altars.----In Norway and Sweden, the floors are strewed with the

tops of Juniper, which diffuse a pleasant fragrance.----Evelyn says

that Juniper-berries afford “one of the most universal remedies in the

world to our crazy forester,” and he wonders that Virgil should condemn

the shadow of such a beneficial tree, but suspects him misreported as

having written the following lines:--

“Now let us rise, for hoarseness oft invades

The singer’s voice who sings beneath the shades:

From Juniper unwholesome dews distil.”

The old herbalists recommended the berries of the Juniper for use

as counter-poisons and other wholesome medicines, and water wherein

these berries had been steeped was held to be health-giving and

useful against poisons and pestilent fevers. The smoke of the leaves

and wood was said to drive away serpents, “and all infection and

corruption of the aire which bring the plague, or such-like contagious

diseases.”----The Juniper would appear to be potent in dreams; thus,

it is unlucky to dream of the tree itself, especially if the person

be sick; but to dream of gathering the berries, if it be in winter,

denotes prosperity; whilst to dream of the actual berries signifies

that the dreamer will shortly arrive at great honours, and become an

important person. To the married it foretells the birth of a male

child.----The Juniper is held to be under the dominion of the Sun.

=JUNO’S ROSE.=--The _Lilium candidum_ has derived its name of Juno’s

Rose from the legend that relates how Jupiter, to make his infant son

Hercules immortal, put him to the breast of the sleeping Juno; and how,

when the babe withdrew from her, the milk which fell from his lips

formed the Milky Way, and, falling on earth, caused the White Lily to

spring up. (See Lily).

=JUNO’S TEARS.=--A name originally given by Dioscorides to the _Coix

lacryma_ (now called Job’s Tears), but for some unknown reason

transferred to the Vervain (_Verbena officinalis_).

=JUPITER’S PLANTS.=--The Pink (_Dianthus_) is Jove’s flower; the Oak is

sacred to him because he first taught mankind to live upon Acorns; his

sceptre is of Cypress. The Dodonæan Jupiter is usually depicted with a

wreath of Oak-leaves; the Olympian Jove wears a wreath of Olive, and

his mantle is decorated with various flowers, particularly the Lily;

to Jupiter Ammon the Beech is dedicated. The House-leek (_Sempervivum

tectorum_) has obtained its name of Jupiter’s Beard (_Jovis Barba_)

from its massive inflorescence resembling the sculptured beard of

Jupiter. The same plant is also called Jupiter’s Eye from its stellate

form: in its centre is a bud, and on the surrounding petals can

be distinguished a little eye, from which circumstance has arisen

the superstition, mentioned by Dioscorides, that this plant cures

inflammation of the eyes. Jupiter’s Staff is the Mullein (_Verbascum

Thapsus_). Jupiter’s Distaff is the Yellow Clary (_Salvia glutinosa_).

Gerarde thus describes it: “_Jovis Colus_ representeth in the highest

top of the stalk a distaffe, wrapped about with yellow Flax, whereof

it took its name.”----The Couch of Jupiter and Juno was formed of the

blossoms of Lotus, Lily, Hyacinth, Crocus, and Asphodel.

=KAIL.=--Writing of the Cabbage or Colewort, Gerarde tells us “the

apothecaries and the common herbalists do call it _Caulis_, of the

goodnesse of the stalke.” The old English name Cole and the Scotch

Kail are both derived from this Latin word _Caulis_, a stalk.----In

Scotland, it is a custom on Hallowe’en for the young people, after

being duly blindfolded, to go forth into the Kail-yard, or garden,

and pull the first stalk they meet with. Returning to the fireside,

they determine, according as the stalk is big or little, straight or

crooked, what the future wife or husband will be. The quantity of earth

adhering to the root is emblematic of the dowry to be expected, and

the temper is indicated by the sweet or bitter taste of the _motoc_ or

pith. Lastly, the stalks are placed in order over the door, and the

Christian names of persons afterwards entering the house signify in the

same order those of the wives and husbands _in futuris_.

=KATAKA.=--The Kataka (_Strychnos potatorum_) is an East Indian plant,

the seeds of which are sold in the bazaars for the purpose of cleansing

muddy water, &c. The vessel containing the water, milk, &c., is first

rubbed round the inside for a minute or two with one of the seeds,

after which, by allowing the liquid to settle for a short time, however

impure it may have been before, it becomes clear. The confidence of the

superstitious Hindus in this property of the Kataka became so great,

that in course of time they ignorantly thought the mere name of Kataka

would be sufficient to cleanse water. It became, therefore, necessary

to state in one of their Codes that although the seeds of the Kataka

purify water, its name alone was insufficient for that purpose.

=KATHARINE’S FLOWER.=--The _Nigella Damascena_ has been called

Katharine’s or St. Katherine’s-flower, from the persistent styles

spreading like the spokes of a wheel, the symbol of St. Katharine,

who was martyred upon a wheel. As regards the seed of this plant,

Gerarde tells us that if dried, powdered, and wrapped in a piece of

fine lawn or sarcenet, it “cureth all murs, catarrhes, rheumes, and

the pose, drieth the braine, and restoreth the sence of smelling unto

those which have lost it, being often smelled unto from day to day,

and made warme at the fire when it is used.”----This plant bears

also the names of Fennel-flower, Bishop’s-wort, Old Man’s Beard, and

Kiss-me-twice-before-I-rise.

=KESARA.=--The Kesara (_Mimusops Elengi_) is an Indian tree sacred to

Krishna. According to Jones, the flowers of the _Kesara_ ornament

conspicuously the Garden of Paradise. An odoriferous water is distilled

from the flowers, and the bark is used medicinally.

=KERNEL-WORT.=--The _Scrophularia nodosa_ has obtained the name of

Kernel-wort, from its having kernels or tubers attached to its roots,

and, therefore, as Gerarde remarks, “it is reported to be a remedy

against those diseases whereof it tooke his name.” It appears to have

been more particularly employed as a cure for the King’s-evil; but

the old herbalist tells us that “divers do rashly teach that if it be

hanged about the necke, or else carried about one, it keepeth a man in

health.”

=KERZEREH.=--The Kerzrah, or Kerzereh, is the name of an Eastern

flower, the odour of which would seem to have deadly properties. It

is well known in Persia, and there, it is commonly said, that if a

man inhale the hot south-wind, which in June or July passes over the

Kerzereh-flowers, it will undoubtedly kill him.

=KETAKI.=--The Indian name of the Screw Pine, _Pandanus odoratissimus_,

is Ketaki, the male and female flowers of which are borne on separate

trees. The male flowers are dried, and are then much in vogue as a

scent by Indian ladies. These flowers are said by the native poets to

be dear to the god Siva; and so exquisite is their perfume, that the

bee, intoxicated by it, mistakes the golden blossom for a beauteous

nymph, and, blinded with passion, loses its wings.

=KING’S CUP.=--The Buttercup (_Ranunculus bulbosus_) is also called

King’s Cup, from the resemblance of its buds to a gold stud such as

Kings wore. This flower was dedicated in mediæval times to the Virgin

Mary, and is the Mary-bud alluded to by Shakspeare in ‘Cymbeline’--

“And twinkling Mary-buds begin

To ope their golden eyes.”

KISS-ME-ERE-I-RISE.--See Pansy.

KISS-ME-TWICE-BEFORE-I-RISE.--See Katharine’s Flower.

KNIGHT’S SPURS.--See Larkspur.

=KNOT GRASS.=--The Centinode, or Knot Grass (_Polygonum aviculare_)

derives its name from the knottiness of its stem and its Grass-like

leaves. In ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream,’ Shakspeare refers to this plant

as “the hindering Knotgrass,” because its decoction was, in olden

times, believed to be efficacious in stopping or retarding the growth

of children, as well as of the young of domestic animals. Thus, in

Beaumont and Fletcher’s ‘Coxcomb,’ we read:--

“We want a boy,

Kept under for a year with milk and Knotgrass.”

Gerarde says that “it is given unto swine with good success when they

are sick, and will not eat their meat, whereupon country people do call

it Swine’s-grass or Swine’s-skir.”

=KOVIDARA.=--The Kovidara (_Bauhinia variegata_) is one of trees which

are represented as growing in the Indian Paradise. The flowers of this

Mountain Ebony are of a purplish-red colour, marked with white, and

with yellow bottoms.

=KOUNALNITZA.=--In Russia, a plant dedicated to the Slave-God Kounala,

protector of the harvest, is named after him _Kounalnitza_. It would

seem, however, to be now considered a herb of St. John. De Gubernatis

tells us that on the eve of St. John’s Day it is customary in Russia to

deck the floors of bath-rooms with this plant. _Kounalnitza_ is thus

described by a Russian lady:--“It is a herb as delicate as an arrow,

having on each side nine leaves and four colours--black, green, red,

and blue. This herb is very salutary. He who has gathered it on St.

John’s Day, and carries it about him with a piece of gold or silver

money attached, need neither fear the Devil nor wicked men at night. In

course of time he will prevail against all adversaries, and will become

the friend of Tzars and princes. The root of this plant is equally

miraculous: if a woman be childless, she has only to drink a potion in

which this plant has been powdered, and she will have children and be

able to protect them from all infantile diseases. _Kounalnitza_ is also

gathered as a protection against sorcerers, who by their cries scare

reapers and workers in the fields.”

=KUDDUM.=--The Kuddum, or Cadamba (_Anthocephalus Cadamba_), is one

of the most sacred trees of India. According to the Chinese Buddhist

scriptures, there grows to the east of the mountain Sume a great ring

of trees called _Kadamba_, of vast proportions. The tree of Buddha

sprang spontaneously from a kernel of this _Kadamba_, dropped in the

soil. “In one moment the earth split, a shoot appeared, and the giant

tree raised itself, embracing within its shadow a circumference of

three hundred cubits. The fruits of this miraculous tree are a source

of bitter vexation to the enemies of Buddha, and against these the

Devas launch all the fury of the tempest.” The yellowish-brown flowers

of the Kuddum are small and collected in dense balls: they open at

the commencement of the rainy season, and they are represented by

the Indian poets as having the power of recalling to lovers, with

irresistible vividness, the beloved absent one.

=KUSA GRASS.=--The sacred Vedic herb _Kusa_ (_Poa cynosuroides_) is

known in the Sanscrit writings as the Ornament of the Sacrifice, the

Pure Herb, the Purifier, &c. With its long pointed leaves, the sacred

beverages are purified, the altar is covered, and the sacrificing

priest is furnished with a natural carpet. According to the Vedas, the

sacrifices offered in the Hindu temples of the Indian Trinity, Brahma,

Vishnu, and Siva, consisted of a fire of fragrant woods lighted at

each of the cardinal points. The flames were fed now and again with

consecrated ointment, and around the fire was scattered the sacred

herb _Kusa_. Thus, in the drama of ‘_Sakuntalâ_,’ written by Kâlidâsa

two thousand years ago, we find that Kanva, the father of the heroine

(who is the chief of the hermits), offers one of these sacrifices, and

exclaims:--

“Holy flames, whose frequent food

Is the consecrated wood,

And for whose encircling bed,

Sacred Kusa-grass is spread;

Hear, oh, hear me when I pray,

Purify my child this day!”

In those times it was apparently considered no sin to apply the sacred

grass to private purposes, for one of Sakuntalâ’s handmaids compounds

perfumes and unguents with consecrated paste and the Kusa-grass,

to anoint the limbs of her mistress, previous to her nuptials. In

the Vedas, the Kusa-grass, or _Darbha_, is often invoked as a god.

According to the _Atharvaveda_, it is immortal, it never ages, it

destroys enemies, and Indra, the god of thunder, employs it as his

weapon.----The Vedic rituals contain directions for the employment of

Kusa-grass for various mystic purposes. To cleanse butter, the priest

held a small stalk of the sacred Grass, without nodes, in each hand,

and, turning towards the east, he invoked Savitar, Vasu, and the rays

of the sun. At the new moon, and at the full moon, they bound and

fastened together the sacrificial wood and the Kusa-grass. In the third

year of its age, it was customary for a Hindu child to be brought

by its parents to the priest, that its hair might be cut. Then the

father, placed to the south of the mother, held in his hand twenty-one

stalks of Kusa-grass, which symbolised the twenty-one winds, and an

invocation was made to Vâyu, the god of the winds. The father, or, in

his absence, a Brahman, took three stalks at a time, and inserted them

in the child’s hair seven times, the points turned towards the infant’s

body; at the same time devoutly murmuring, “May the herb protect thee!”

According to the Vedas, a house ought to be erected in a locality where

the Kusa-grass abounds; the foundations are sprinkled with it, and

care is taken to extirpate all thorny plants. When reading the sacred

books, the devout Hindu should be seated either on the ground or on a

flooring strewn with Kusa-grass, upon which once rested Brahma himself.

It was customary, upon leaving a seminary, for the Vedic student to

take, among other things, by way of memento, and as a presage of

good fortune, a few blades of Kusa-grass. Anchorites employed the

sacred Grass as a covering to their nudity, and it was also used as a

purification in funeral rites. In the Buddhist ritual, the Vedic Kusa

appears under the name of _Barhis_, and serves as a kind of carpet, on

which come Agni and all the gods to seat themselves. Of such importance

is the sacred Grass considered, that the name _Barhis_ is sometimes

even employed to signify in a general manner the sacrifice itself.

=KUSHTHA.=--Wilson identifies the Indian mythological tree _Kushtha_

with the _Costus speciosus_, a swamp plant bearing snow-white flowers

and celebrated for the sweetness of its fruits. The Kushtha forms one

of the trees of heaven. In the _Atharvaveda_, it is stated to flourish

in the third heaven, where the ambrosia is to be found: it possesses

magical properties, will cure fevers, and is considered as the first

of medicinal plants. It is represented also as a great friend and

companion of Soma, the god of the ambrosia, and it descends from the

mountain Himavant as a deity of salvation.

LAD’S LOVE.--See Southernwood.

=LADY’S PLANTS.=--When the word “lady” occurs in plant names, it

alludes in most cases to Our Lady, the Virgin Mary, on whom the monks

and nuns of old lavished flowers in profusion. All white flowers were

regarded as typifying her purity and sanctity, and were consecrated

to her festivals. The finer flowers were wrested from the Northern

deities, Freyja and Bertha, and from the classic Juno, Diana, and

Venus, and laid upon the shrine of Our Lady. In Puritan times, the

name of Our Lady was in many instances replaced by Venus, thus

recurring to the ancient nomenclature: for example: Our Lady’s Comb

became Venus’s Comb (_Scandix Pecten Veneris_); _Galium verum_ is

called Our Lady’s Bedstraw, from its soft, puffy, flocculent stems,

and its golden flowers. The name may allude more particularly to the

Virgin Mary having given birth to her Son in a stable, with nothing

but wild flowers for her bedding. _Clematis vitalba_, commonly called

Traveller’s Joy, from the shade and shelter it affords to weary

wayfarers, is also called Lady’s Bower, from “its aptness in making

arbours, bowers, and shadie covertures in gardens.” _Statice Armeria_,

the clustered Pink, which is called Thrift, from the past participle of

the verb to thrive, is, on account of its close cushion-like growth,

termed Lady’s Cushion. _Alchemilla vulgaris_ is named Lady’s Mantle

from the shape and vandyked edge of the leaf; and _Campanula hybrida_

(from the resemblance of its expanded flower, set on its elongated

ovary, to an ancient metallic mirror on its straight handle) is the

Lady’s Looking-glass. Two plants with soft inflated calyces (_Anthyllis

vulneraria_ and _Digitalis purpurea_) are Lady’s Fingers. _Neottia

spiralis_, with its flower-spikes rising above each other like braided

hair, is Lady’s Tresses; and the Maidenhair Fern is Our Lady’s Hair.

Dodder (_Cuscuta_), from its string-like stems, is called Lady’s Laces;

and _Digraphis arundinacea_, from the ribbon-like striped leaves,

Lady’s Garters. In Wiltshire, _Convolvulus sepium_ is called Lady’s

Nightcap. _Cypripedium Calceolus_, from the shape of its flower, is

called Lady’s Slippers; and _Cardamine pratensis_, from the shape of

its flowers, like little smocks hung out to dry, is the Lady’s Smock,

all silver white, of Shakspeare. Lady’s Thimble is a name of the Blue

or Hare Bell (_Campanula rotundifolia_); and Lady’s Seal is now the

Black Briony. _Carduus Marianus_ is the Lady’s Thistle, the blessed

Milk Thistle, whose green leaves have been spotted white ever since

the milk of the Virgin fell upon it when she was nursing Jesus, and

endowed it with miraculous virtues.

=LARCH.=--There has long been a superstitious belief that the wood

of the Larch-tree (_Pinus Larix_) is impenetrable by fire, and a

story is told by Vitruvius of a castle besieged by Cæsar, which,

from being built largely of Larch timber, was found most difficult

to consume.----Evelyn calls the Larch a “goodly tree, which is of so

strange a composition, that ’twill hardly burn; whence the Mantuan,

_Et robusta Larix igni impenetrabile lignum_, for so Cæsar found

it.”----Tiberius constructed several bridges of this timber, and the

Forum of Augustus, at Rome, was built with it.----Evelyn tells of a

certain ship found many years ago in the Numidian Sea, twelve fathoms

under water, which was chiefly built of Larch and Cypress, so hardened

as long to resist the fire or the sharpest tool. Nor, he adds, “was

anything perished of it, though it had lain above a thousand and four

hundred years submerged.”----A Manna is obtained from the Larch,

called in the South of France _Manna de Briançon_; it is very rare,

and met with only in little drops that adhere to the leaves.----In

the case of a forest fire, if Larches are scorched to the pith, the

inner part exudes a gum, called Orenburg gum, which the mountaineers

masticate in order to fasten their teeth. Ben Jonson, in the ‘Masque of

Queens,’ speaks of the gum or turpentine of the Larch as being used in

witchcraft. A witch answers her companion:--

“Yes, I have brought (to help your vows)

Horned Poppy, Cypress-boughs,

The Fig-tree wild, that grows on tombs,

And juice that from the Larch-tree comes,

The basilisk’s blood and the viper’s skin:

And now our orgies let’s begin.”

According to a Tyrolean tradition, the Seliges Fräulein, dressed

in white, repairs to an aged Larch beneath whose shelter she

sings.----Lucan includes the “gummy Larch” among the articles burned

to drive away serpents.----M. de Rialle, quoted in _Mythothologie des

Plantes_, relates that a group of seven Larches constituted for the

Ostiaks a sacred grove. Everyone passing was expected to leave an

arrow, and formerly it was customary to suspend skins there, so that in

course of time an immense quantity was accumulated. As these offerings

were frequently stolen by strangers, the Ostiaks decided to fell one

of the Larches and remove the stump to some secret locality where they

might pay their devotions without fear of sacrilege. M. de Rialle

found the same Larch worship at Bérézof: there a tree fifty feet high,

and so old that only its top bore foliage, received the homage of the

Ostiaks, who showed their piety by turning to good account its singular

conformation: about six feet from the ground the trunk of the tree

became divided into two limbs, which joining again a little higher up,

left a cleft in the centre: this aperture the devotees dedicated to the

reception of their offerings.

=LARKSPUR.=--The Larkspur, the _Delphinium_ or Dolphin-flower of the

ancients, was considered by Linnæus and many other botanists to be

none other than the Hyacinth of the classic poets. It is not, however,

generally recognised as the flower that sprang from the blood of the

unfortunate Hyacinthus, and which to this day bears his name; but is

rather regarded as the flower alluded to in the enigma propounded by a

shepherd in one of the Eclogues of Virgil.

“_Dic quibus in terris inscripti nomina regum

Nascuntur flores._”

“Say in what country do flowers grow with the names of kings

written upon them.”

Tradition states that from the life-blood of the disappointed

and infuriated Ajax sprang the _Delphinium_--the flower which we

now know as the Larkspur, upon whose petals it is said may be

read the letters A I A, and which the botanists consequently term

_Delphininium Ajacis_--truly a flower upon which the name of a king

is written.----The legend concerning the origin of the flower is as

follows:--Ajax, the son of Telamon and Hesione, was next to Achilles

worthily reputed the most valiant of all the Greeks at the Trojan war,

and engaged in single combat with Hector, the intrepid captain of the

Trojan hosts, who was subsequently slain by Achilles. After the death

of Achilles, Ajax and Ulysses both claimed the arms of the deceased

hero: the latter was awarded them by the Greeks, who preferred the

wisdom and policy of Ulysses to the courage of Ajax. This threw Ajax

into such a fury, that he slaughtered a flock of sheep, mistaking

them for the sons of Atreus; and then, upon perceiving his error,

stabbed himself with the sword presented to him by Hector; the blood

spurting from his self-inflicted death-wound, giving birth, as it fell

to the earth, to the purple _Delphinium_, which bears upon its petals

the letters at once the initials of his name and an exclamation of

grief at the loss of such a hero.----The generic name of the plant

is derived from the Greek _delphinion_, a dolphin; the flower-buds,

before expansion, being thought to resemble that fish. In England, the

flower is known by the names of Larkspur, Lark’s-heel, Lark’s-toe,

Lark’s-claw, and Knight’s-spur.

=LAUREL.=--Daphne, daughter of Peneus and the goddess Terra, inspired

Apollo with a consuming passion. Daphne, however, received with

distrust and horror the addresses of the god, and fled from his

advances. Pursued by Apollo, she adjured the water-gods to change her

form, and, according to Ovid--

“Scarce had she finished when her feet she found

Benumb’d with cold and fastened to the ground:

A filmy rind about her body grows;

Her hair to leaves, her arms extend to boughs.

The nymph is all into a Laurel gone

The smoothness of her skin remains alone.

* * * * *

To whom the god: because thou canst not be

My mistress, I espouse thee for my tree:

Be thou the prize of honour and renown;

The deathless poet and the poem crown.

Thou shalt the Roman festivals adorn,

And after poets, be by victors won.

Thou shalt returning Cæsar’s triumph grace

When pomps shall in a long procession pass;

Wreath’d on the posts before his palace wait;

And be the sacred guardian of the gate,

Secure from thunder, and unharmed by Jove,

Unfading as th’ immortal powers above;

And as the locks of Phœbus are unshorn,

So shall perpetual green thy boughs adorn.”--_Dryden._

The classical Laurel, known as the “Royal,” or “Augustan,” was the

Sweet Bay, or Daphne (_Laurus nobilis_). Formerly the Bay-tree was

called Laurel, and the fruit only named Bayes, a word derived from

the French _baie_, a berry. By the Greeks and Romans the tree was

considered sacred. The Romans decorated with Laurel the gods Apollo

and Bacchus, the goddesses Libertas and Salus, Æsculapius, Hercules,

&c. The victors of the Pythian games, held to commemorate Apollo’s

triumph over the Pythons, wore crowns of Laurel, Palm, or Beech. Paris

(called in Homer, Alexander) was crowned with Alexandrian Laurel

(_Ruscus racemosus_), as victor in the public games, whence its names

in Apuleius, _Daphne Alexandrina_ and _Stephane Alexandrina_. Of all

the honours decreed to Cæsar by the Senate, he is said to have valued

most the privilege of wearing a crown of Alexandrian Laurel, because it

covered his baldness, which was reckoned a deformity among the Romans

as well as among the Jews. This is the Laurel generally depicted on

busts, coins, &c. The palace gates of the Cæsars, and the high pontiffs

were decorated with Laurel. Victorious Roman generals sent their

letters and dispatches to the Senate enclosed in Laurel-leaves. The

letter announcing the victory was called _literæ laureatæ_, and its

bearer carried a branch of Laurel, which was placed in the breast of

Jupiter Optimus Maximus. The soldiers’ spears, tents, ships, &c., were

all dressed up with Laurel, and in the triumph each soldier carried a

branch in his hand. According to Plutarch, Scipio entered Carthage,

holding in one hand a sceptre and in the other a branch of Laurel.

Sophocles relates how Œdipus, seeing Creon arrive crowned with Laurel,

believed that he brought good news. The goddess Victoria is represented

as crowned with Laurel, and bearing the branch of a Palm-tree.

According to Hesiod, the Muses hold Laurel in their hands.

The prophetess Manto, a daughter of the prophet Tiresias, was sometimes

called Daphne (Laurel).

The bough of a Laurel was considered to give to prophets the faculty

of seeing that which was hidden. Dionysius calls the Laurel the

prophetical plant; and Claudian, _venturi præscia Laurus_. Fulgentius

states, that a Laurel-leaf placed beneath the pillow will cause coming

events to be foreseen in a dream; thereby greatly assisting the

prediction of future events. Diviners, like the priests of Apollo, wore

Laurel wreaths, and Laurel was used in the composition of incense.

Evelyn relates that the Laurel and _Agnus Castus_ were reputed to be

“trees which greatly composed the ‘phansy,’ and did facilitate true

visions; and that the first was especially efficacious to inspire a

poetical fury. Such a tradition there goes of Rebekah, the wife of

Isaac, in imitation of her father-in-law. The instance is recited

out of an ancient ecclesiastical history, by Abulensis.” From hence,

Evelyn thinks the Delphic Tripos, the Dodonean Oracle in Epirus, and

others of a similar nature, took their origin. The Pythia, or priestess

of Apollo, at Delphi, before delivering the oracles from the sacred

tripod, shook a Laurel-tree and sometimes chewed the leaves with which

she crowned herself, casting them afterwards into the sacred fire.

The temple of Apollo at Delphi, where the celebrated oracles were

delivered, was at first only a structure of Laurel-branches, which

enclosed a fissure in the earth, from which a stupefying exhalation

arose. Over the fissure was placed a tripod, on which the Pythia or

prophetess sat, and, becoming excited by the ascending vapour, she

fell into an ecstacy, and prophesied. After a temple of stone had been

constructed, the Pythia prophesied in an inner and secluded cell,

the only opening to which, accessible to questioners, was covered

with Laurel-leaves. The Laurel being sacred to Apollo as well as to

Æsculapius, was used in the temples of both these divinities, partly

to induce sleep and dreams, partly to produce beneficial effects in

various diseases. Whosoever wished to ask counsel was bound to appear

before the altar crowned with Laurel-twigs and chewing Laurel-leaves.

Every ninth year, a bower, composed of Laurel-branches, was erected in

the forecourt of the temple at Delphi.

The Bœotian fêtes, held every ninth year at Thebes in honour of Apollo,

were designated Daphnephoria. On these occasions, an Olive-bough,

adorned with Laurel, was carried by a beautiful and illustrious youth,

dedicated to the service of Apollo, and who was called _Daphnephoros_

(Laurel-bearer). The origin of the Daphnephoria was as follows:--The

Ætolians had invaded Bœotia, but both invaders and defenders suspended

hostilities to celebrate the festival of Apollo, and having cut down

Laurel-boughs from Mount Helicon, they walked in procession in honour

of the divinity: that same day the Bœotian general, Polemates, dreamed

that a youth presented him with a suit of armour, and commanded the

Bœotians to offer prayers to Apollo, and to walk in procession, with

Laurel-boughs in their hands, every ninth year. Three days later,

Polemates defeated the invaders, and immediately instituted the

Festival of Daphnephoria.

The Laurel formerly had the power ascribed to it of being a safeguard

against lightning, of which Tiberius was very fearful, and in order to

avoid which he is stated to have crept under his bed and protected his

head with Laurel-leaves. In Sicily, it has long been popularly believed

that the shrub is a protection from thunder and lightning. The same

superstition survived till recently in our own country. W. Browne tells

us that “Baies being the material of poets’ ghirlands, are supposed

not subject to any hurt of Jupiter’s thunder-bolts, as other trees

are.” Culpeper alludes to the old belief that neither witch nor devil,

thunder nor lightning, will hurt a man where a Bay-tree is; and remarks

further, that Laurels resist “witchcraft very potently, as also all the

evils old Saturn can do the body of man, and they are not a few. The

berries are very effectual against all poisons of venomous creatures,

as also against the pestilence and other infectious diseases.”

The decay of the Bay-tree, which is generally rapid, was formerly

considered as an omen of disaster. It is said that before the death

of Nero, though in a very mild winter, all these trees withered to

the root, and a great pestilence in Padua is reputed to have been

preceded by the same phenomenon. So great a reputation had the Laurel

for clearing the air and resisting contagion, that the Emperor Claudius

was advised by his physicians during a raging pestilence to remove

his court to Laurentum. That city, in the reign of Latinus, was the

capital of Latium, whose inhabitants were called Laurentini from the

great number of Laurels which flourished in their country. King Latinus

discovered one of unusual size and beauty when about to build a temple

to Apollo, and the tree was consecrated to the god, and preserved with

religious care.

The Laurel had the reputation of being generally propitious to man.

At Rome, on the 15th of May, merchants used to celebrate a festival

in honour of Mercury, and proceeding to a public fountain, they drew

water wherein they dipped a Laurel-branch, which they then employed

to bless all their merchandise. The Laurus (Bay) was held in high

esteem by the old Greek physicians; and among the people there existed

a belief that spirits could be banished by its means. The Greeks had

a saying, “I carry a branch of Laurel,” to indicate that the speaker

had no fear of poison or sorcery. They had a custom of affixing a

Laurel-bough over the doorway, in the case of a severe illness, in

order to avert death and drive away evil spirits. Presumably from these

associations, it became the fashion to crown young doctors of physic

with Laurel-berries (_Bacca Lauri_), and the students were called

Baccalaureats, Bay-laureats, or Bachelors. Theophrastus tells us that

in his time the superstitious kept Bay-leaves in their mouths all day,

to guard them from misfortune. Theocritus says that young girls were

wont to burn Laurel as a charm to recall errant lovers. The Bolognese

use Laurel to obtain an augury of the harvest: they put Laurel-leaves

in the fire, and if in burning they crackle, it is a sign that the

harvest will be good; if not, it will be bad. Tibullus chronicles a

similar superstition in his time.

In the days of Pliny, there still existed on Mount Aventine a

plantation of Laurels, of which the branches were employed for

expiations. On the other hand, there grew on the shores of the Euxine

a Laurel bearing a sinister reputation, close to where Amycus, the

son of Neptune, was killed and buried. The Argonauts, when passing

there, broke off a branch of this Laurel, and they immediately began

to quarrel among themselves: the quarrel ceased, however, directly the

branch was thrown away.

Petrarch made the Laurel the constant theme of his verse, associating

it with the name of his beloved mistress, Laura; and when publicly

crowned in the Roman Capitol with a wreath of Laurel, the poet

acknowledged himself to have experienced the greatest delight.

Sir Thomas Browne refers to a custom common in Christian countries of

throwing a sprig of Bay upon the coffin when interred. In England, it

has long been used, together with Holly, Rosemary, &c., to decorate

houses and churches at Christmas. In Greece, on Holy Saturday, they

spread Laurel-leaves on the church floor. In Corsica, they deck with

Laurel-leaves the doorway of the house where a wedding is being

celebrated.

To dream of a Laurel-bush is a token of victory and pleasure. If the

dreamer is married it denotes an inheritance through the wife. If

a married woman dreams of seeing or smelling Laurel, it is a sign

that she shall bear children; if a maid, it denotes that she will be

suddenly married. Astrologers consider the Laurel a tree of the Sun,

under the celestial sign Leo.

The Roumanians have a legend that there was once a nymph, known as the

Daughter of the Laurel, who dwelt in the midst of a Laurel-bush. One

evening the Laurel had opened its branches that she might, as was her

wont, issue forth and dance in the flowery valley. Whilst tripping

along she was accosted by a handsome youth, who extolled her beauty,

expressed his passion for her, and finally endeavoured to embrace her;

but the Laurel nymph fled, and pursued by the stranger, disappeared in

the flowery groves.... “The Star Queen sleeps in her palace of clouds;

sleep also, gentle and lovely girl; try to calm thy sighs.” So sings

the handsome stranger, and the Daughter of the Laurel falls to sleep

in his arms, murmuring a prayer that her lover may never abandon her.

At her waking, alas! the youth is nowhere to be seen. She shrieks

for him wildly, and calls to the night; to the stars; to the rivulet

running through the wood; but in vain. “Open thy branches, beautiful

Laurel-tree!” then cries the deserted girl; “the night is already

flying, and if I remain longer here I shall dissolve away into dew.”

“Away, young and beautiful girl,” replies the Laurel-tree mournfully;

“the star wreath of honour has fallen from thy brow; there is no longer

any place for thee here.” Then the sun rose over the mountain, and the

Daughter of the Laurel dissolved away into dew.

=LAVENDER.=--The ancients employed Lavender (_Lavandula Spica_) largely

in their baths, whence its name, derived from the Latin verb, _lavare_,

to wash. The expression “Laid up in Lavender” has arisen from the old

custom of using the plant to scent newly-washed linen.

“Its spike of azure bloom

Shall be erewhile in arid bundles bound,

To lurk amid the labours of the loom,

And crown our kerchiefs clean with mickle rare perfume.”

The ancients used the French Lavender (_L. Stœchas_), which formerly

grew in great abundance on the islands near Hyères, in France, that

were named after the plant, the Stœchades. Gerarde calls this French

Lavender, Sticadove, and says the herb was also known as Cassidonie,

corrupted by simple country folk into “Cast-me-down.” Shakspeare makes

Perdita class Lavender among the flowers denoting middle-age:--

“Here’s flowers for you;

Hot Lavender, Mints, Savory, Marjoram.

The Marygold, that goes to bed with the sun,

And with him rises weeping; these are the flowers

Of middle Summer, and, I think, they are given

To men of middle age.”

English Lavender was formerly called Lavender Spike, and Gerarde says

it was thought by some to be the sweet herb Cassia, mentioned by Virgil

in his ‘Bucolics’:--

“And then she’ll Spike and such sweet herbs unfold,

And paint the Jacinth with the Marigold.”

It was formerly believed that the asp, a dangerous species of viper,

made Lavender its habitual place of abode, for which reason the

plant was approached with extreme caution.----In Spain and Portugal,

Lavender is used to strew the floors of churches and houses on festive

occasions, or to make bonfires on St. John’s Day.----In Tuscany,

it is employed to counteract the effect of the Evil Eye on little

children.----The Kabyle women attribute to Lavender the property of

protecting them from marital cruelty, and invoke it for that purpose.

=LEEK.=--Biblical commentators say that the Leek (_Allium Porrum_),

as well as the Onion and Garlic, was included among those Egyptian

luxuries after which the Children of Israel pined. White and green were

the old Cymric colours, and these colours are found combined in the

Leek, which is the national emblem of the Welsh. The following lines

are from a MS. in the Harl. Col., British Museum:--

“I like the Leeke above all herbes and floures;

When first we wore the same the field was ours.

The Leeke is white and green, whereby is ment

That Britaines are both stout and eminente.

Next to the lion and the unicorne,

The Leeke’s the fairest emblym that is worne.”

Shakspeare, in Henry V., tells us that the Leek, worn by Welshmen on

St. David’s Day (March 1st), is “an ancient tradition, begun upon an

honourable respect, and worn as a memorable trophy of pre-deceased

valour.” This vegetable “trophy” is said to be in memory of a great

victory obtained by the Welsh over the Saxons; on which occasion,

they, by order of St. David, placed Leeks in their caps in order to

distinguish themselves. It has also been supposed that the wearing

of the Leek may have originated in the custom of _Cymortha_, still

observed among the farmers of the country, where, in assisting one

another in ploughing their land, they bring each their Leeks to the

common repast of the whole party.----Drayton relates another legend,

which runs as follows:--

“There is an aged cell, with Moss and Ivy grown,

In which not to this day the sun has ever shone.

That reverend British saint, in zealous ages past,

To contemplation lived, and did so truly fast,

As he did only drink what crystal Hodney yields,

And fed upon the Leeks he gathered in the fields;

In memory of whom, in each revolving year,

The Welshmen on his day that sacred herb do wear.”

Pliny states that Nero brought Leeks into great repute among the Romans

by eating them with oil to clear his voice for singing. His folly in

this respect obtained for him the satirical name of _Porrophagus_, the

Leek Eater. Martial, referring to the disagreeable effects of the Leek

upon the breath of the eater, says:--

“The juice of Leeks who fondly sips,

To kiss the fair, must close his lips.”

----In Poland, the flower-stalk of the Leek is placed in the hands

of the statues of our Saviour on certain special days, to represent

the Reed given to Him at the Crucifixion.----Among the Sicilians,

the mother of the Apostle Peter is the subject of many legends. She

is always represented as bad and niggardly. The only thing she ever

gave away was the leaf of a Leek, which she flung to a beggar, who

importuned her one day as she was washing her potherbs. When she died,

hell received her. Years afterwards, Peter, the doorkeeper of Paradise,

heard a piteous voice saying: “Son Peter, see what torments I am in.

Go, ask the Lord to let me out.” So Peter went and asked. But the Lord

said: “She never did a nail-paring of good. Except this Leek-leaf,

she never once gave a scrap away. However, here is a Leek-leaf: this

angel shall take it, and shall tell her to lay hold of the other end,

while he pulls her up.” So Peter’s mother grasped the Leek-leaf; but

all the souls in torment ran after her, and clung to her skirts, so

that the angel was dragging quite a string of them after her. Her evil

disposition, however, would not permit her to keep quiet. It grieved

her avaricious temperament that anyone besides herself should be saved;

so she struggled and kicked, in order to shake the poor souls off, and

in so doing tore the saving Leek-leaf, and fell back again, and sank

deeper than before.

=LENT LILIES.=--The Daffodil is the Lent Lily. Mingled with Yew, which

is the emblem of the Resurrection, it forms an appropriate decoration

for Easter. Lent Lilies are called by the French _Pauvres Filles de

Ste. Clare_. (See NARCISSUS).

=LENTIL.=--Like almost all vegetables, Lentils are traditionally

regarded as funereal plants: formerly they were forbidden at all

sacrifices and feasts.----St. Hilarion, when he arrived at man’s

estate, subsisted for three years upon Lentils steeped in cold

water.----To dream of Lentils is supposed to indicate sorrow and

anxiety.

=LETTUCE.=--Pythagoras, we are told, was extremely fond of Lettuces,

which formed a large portion of his diet; but Eubulus is said to have

bitterly reproached his wife for having served up at a meal Lettuces,

which were only recommended for funeral repasts.----The ancients

considered the Lettuce (_Lactuca_) as an aliment appropriate in times

of mourning, and they employed it largely in their funeral repasts in

commemoration of the death of Adonis, son of Myrrha, whom Venus had

concealed in a bed of Lettuces, and whose death had occurred from a

wound inflicted by a wild boar that had come to feed on the Lettuces,

and so surprised the beautiful youth.----Another legend states that

the young man hidden by Venus in the Lettuce bed was Phaon, the

handsome boatman of Lesbos, and not Adonis.----In mediæval days, it

was superstitiously thought that an evil spirit lurked in a bed of

Lettuces, and a species known by women as _Astylida_ was believed to

affect mothers adversely, and to cause grievous ills to newly-born

infants. Perhaps this may account for a saying often heard at Richmond,

Surrey:--“O’er-much Lettuce in the garden will stop a young wife’s

bearing.”----The old poets prescribed a bed of Lettuce for those who

were unable to obtain repose; and Pliny states that Lettuces of all

descriptions were thought to cause sleep. Pope, referring to its

soporific qualities, has said of the Lettuce:--

“If your wish be rest,

“Lettuce and Cowslip wine, _probatum est_.”

Gerarde remarks that, if eaten after supper, this vegetable prevents

the drunkenness resulting from too free indulgence in wine.----Lettuce

is stated by the Mishna to be one of the five “bitter herbs” ordered

to eaten by Jews at the Feast of the Passover.----To dream of eating

salads made of Lettuce, &c., is supposed to portend trouble and

difficulty in the management of affairs.

=LILY.=--The white Lily (_Lilium candidum_) was held in the highest

regard by the heathen nations; it was one of the flowers employed

to form the couch of Jupiter and Juno, and under the name of _Rosa

Junonis_ was consecrated to the imperious queen of the heavens, from

whose milk, indeed, the flower is stated to have originally sprung. The

legend is as follows:--Jupiter being desirous of rendering the infant

Hercules immortal, that he might rank among the divinities, caused

Somnus to prepare a nectareous sleeping-draught, which he persuaded

Juno to take. The Queen of the Gods fell immediately into a profound

slumber, and Jupiter then placed the little Hercules to the celestial

breast, in order that the babe might imbibe the ambrosial milk that

would ensure its immortality. The infant, over-eager to enjoy the

delightful nutriment, drew the milk faster than he could swallow, and

some drops falling to the earth, there immediately sprang from it the

white Lily, the emblem of purity: some of the milk is also said to have

dropped over that portion of the heavens which, from its whiteness,

still retains the name of the Milky Way (_lactea via_). Another version

of the myth states that originally all the Lilies were Orange-coloured,

but that those on which Juno’s milk fell were rendered white, and

produced the _Lilium candidum_.----The Lily was doubtless cultivated by

the ancient Egyptians, and probably held in great esteem, for we find

it appearing in their hieroglyphical representations, and may therefore

conclude that the flower possessed some special significance. With

the Greeks and Romans, the Lily was a favourite flower, and Columella

tells us that the latter were wont to preserve Lilies by planting them

in baskets. The frequent allusions made to the plant in the Scriptures

are sufficient proof that the Hebrew race thought highly of the beauty

and grace of the Lily. In their language, the name Susannah signifies

a Lily. There are great diversities of opinion as to what was the

particular Lily alluded to by our Saviour when He said, “Consider the

Lilies of the field.” Some think the Tulip, others the _Amaryllis

lutea_, others again the white Lily to be the flowers to which Solomon

in all his glory was not to be compared.----In nearly every Catholic

country, the White Lily is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and is held

to be emblematic of her purity: hence the flower is frequently used to

decorate her shrine, and especially so on the feast of the Visitation

of Our Lady and the Annunciation. The Continental order of the Blessed

Lady of the Lily was instituted by Garcia, fourth King of Navarre, on

account of an image of the Holy Virgin being miraculously found, as it

was reported, in a Lily, which is believed to have cured this prince

of a dangerous disorder.----Rapin, the French Jesuit poet, has the

following lines on the Lily, which he evidently confounds with the

Iris, or _Fleur de Luce_ (see IRIS), as being the representative flower

of the French nation. He says:--

“With Lilies our French monarchs grace their crown,

Brought hither by the valiant Hector’s son,

From Trojan coasts, when Francus forc’d by fate

Old Priam’s kingdom did to France translate:

Or, if we may believe what legends tell,

Like Rome’s Ancilia, once from heav’n they fell.

Clovis, first Christian of our regal line,

Of heav’n approved, received the gift divine

With his unblemished hands, and by decree

Ordained this shield giv’n by the gods should be

Preserved, the nation’s guard to late posterity.”

The Roman Catholics assigned to the Madonna, as Queen of Heaven, the

White Lily (_Lilium candidum_), the symbol of purity, and it is the

flower appropriated to the Annunciation and to the Visitation of Our

Lady. According to the Romish legend, St. Thomas, who was absent at

the death of the Virgin, would not believe in her resurrection, and

desired that her tomb should be opened before him; and when this was

done, it was found to be full of Lilies and Roses. Then the astonished

Thomas, looking up to heaven, beheld the Virgin ascending, and she,

for the assurance of his faith, flung down to him her girdle.----In a

picture by Gozzoli, in the National Gallery, representing St. Jerome

and St. Francis kneeling at the foot of the Virgin, a red Rose-bud

has sprung up at the knees of St. Jerome, and a tall White Lily at

those of St. Francis--these flowers typifying the love and purity of

the Virgin Mother. In the works of Italian masters, a vase of Lilies

stands by the Virgin’s side, with three flowers crowning three stems.

St. Joseph, husband of the Virgin Mary, is depicted with the Lily in

his hand; his staff, according to the legend, having put forth Lilies.

Later painters of this school depict the angel Gabriel with a branch

of White Lilies.----As the emblem of purity and chastity, the Lily

is associated with numbers of saints, male and female; but, being

consecrated to the Virgin, it is always placed, in the paintings of

the early Italian masters, near those saints who were distinguished

by their devotion to the Mother of Jesus, as in the pictures of St.

Bernard.----As protector of youth, St. Louis de Gonzague bears a Lily

in his hand, and the flower is also dedicated to St. Anthony, as a

guardian of marriages. The flower is likewise the characteristic of St.

Clara, St. Dominick, and St. Katherine of Siena. The crucifix twined

with the Lily signifies devotion and purity of heart: it is given

particularly to St. Nicholas of Solentine.----Lilies being emblematic

of the Virgin, an order of knighthood was instituted by Ferdinand of

Aragon, in 1403, called the “Order of the Lily,” the collar of which

was composed of Lilies and gryphons.----From the Virgin being the

patron Saint of Dundee, that town bears Lilies on its arms.----To dream

of Lilies during their blooming season is reputed to foretell marriage,

happiness, and prosperity; but a vision of Lilies out of their season,

or withered, signifies frustration of hopes, and the death or severe

illness of someone beloved.----Astrologers state that Lilies are under

the dominion of the Moon.